Jurassic Park What If
by Agent Reptile
Summary: The Park we have all read about, all seen the movie, and all love just about everything to do with that was doomed to fail because of arrogance, pride, selfishness, and not understanding the power that it represented. But what if it wasn't doomed to fail, what if someone no one expected choose to step up and help it succeed when no one though of her beyond her looks.
1. Chapter 1

Jurassic Park What if

Chapter 1: A surprising solution, a chance to face your own dragons

Notes to read before the story: Jurassic Park is owned by Universal Studios, the Michael Crichton estate, and is not mine. Characters belonging to properties such as Disney, Marvel, or whatever else I may use belong to their respected owners are are not mine. This is a work of fanfiction and is a thought experiment that was supposed to be just some artwork I wanted done. As the time was perfect to actually do a story about this, I figured why not write it and see how people like it. This will not interfere with my other fanfiction, but I hope that I will turn this into a fully fleshed out novel of sorts with chapters having their own art if I can find a site that will let me do that. But I don't get a dime from this, I am doing this as a fan of all parties involved, I hope to get some good feedback on this, and please if you like it let me know as I have been working this out for years in my head.

The warnings were clear: Don't try to play God, things will come back to bite you, you can't put your trust solely into machines, and of course the obvious "life will find a way". Well what would happen if the most unlikely of events happened when the most infamous theme park had as one of it's staff someone who never would have thought would work for them, but who could prevent one of the greatest tragedies in fiction from happening. Someone from a completely different universe, completely different time, but a special someone who was going to prove she was just as good as anyone else.

We open our story on a very typical rainy day on the island. Not a torrential downpour from the not too uncommon hurricanes, and not the haze of water droplets that would hang in the air during one of the larger foggy periods. No it was a steady rain mixed with a slight cold breeze that contrasted the warm feeling from the volcanic heated ground below. This was the common backdrop when you were on Isla Nublar and the game warden Robert Maldoon internal conflictions on this latest addition to the parks staff. He had been introduced to this young lady a few weeks ago and he would be damned if he could figure out how Hammond found her. Supposedly she was given a talk on bird calls and explained how she was able to completely translate the complex clicks, whistles, and hoots into human language and even did a small demonstration where she perfectly mimicked a robin's call getting a recently acquired wild bird to bounce around on her finger, do a few tricks, and then let the animal go. Hammond put too much stock in showmanship and his latest endeavor was proving to be the most challenging adventure in the history of human and animal relationships.

"Maldoon." The cheerful voice of the head of InGEN greeted him as the old man walked over to the experienced animal handler. "Ah Maldoon glad I caught you." The eccentric multi-millionaire had called the South African away from the Kenya game preserve to run this newest attraction and from the beginning something felt fishy, something was off here and the level of fencing and power output for that protection was unlike anything else on earth and Dr. Wu was constantly creating more and more of those cloned animals in his lab here and on Isla Sorna. When the experienced hunter had thought he had seen the most dangerous animals nature had to offer, along came Dr. Wu and his cloned killing machines. The Dilophosaurs were a pest to deal with as their spit was a blinding toxic sludge that caused extreme pain upon contact. Eye protection was an absolute must when handling them. And the T-Rex? The things wasn't even two years and already it was breaking down doors and had shown far greater strength than any of the other carnivores and the deafening roar could already break eardrums before it tore whatever it got its mouth around to bits. And the worst of the bunch was the raptors. Those blasted things were lethal in less than a year, a year. Fast as a cheetah, smarter than a chimp, and they could jump higher than anyone had expected. The nine they are so far were more than enough and that blasted doctor was breeding even more of them. So who was this supposed animal expert to say she could do anything more than waste our time when Hammond should have killed every last one of those sickle toed freaks.

"So what is making you so happy today sir?" Maldoon said as he addressed his employer.

"Oh really Maldoon you worry too much. The park will work and I already have invested the engineers to have the special housing for the raptors as you asked."

"It's my job to worry sir. Keeps people alive when I worry."

"Yes well. This should help calm your fears." Hammond handed over a print-out of some sort of scientific study this new expert had done. Most of the figures were easy to make out, even if the technical terms were incomprehensible to Maldoon. The strangest part of this was that this was done by a Dr. Aurora Briar Rose. Maldoon had thought that the woman was just a performer, not the researcher who had done the research herself just as Hammond was a consummate demonstrator for the ones who did the hard work that kept everything running.

"So what exactly am I looking at?" he asked the older man as the two headed to the helicopter pad.

"Well this is her dissertation work. Absolutely fascinating stuff, even Dr. Wu was impressed by how easily she could understand the test animals and develop a training method for them."

"All well and good, but pigeons are not raptors." Maldoon said as he flipped through pages.

"Ah, but read the final pages my friend. That is the work she has done for us involving live specimens."

"So she was brought on board understanding what we are doing here? What was it a compy in a lab room."

"Oh no no no. She was able to communicate with adult dinosaurs. Fully grown ceratopcians and hadrosaurids after only a few hours of hearing them communicate and even moved on to predators before she left Isla Sorna."

"She handled carnivores?"

"Yes, however we did have to concede on one point for her to perfect her research. We allowed her to try to imprint on a number of specialized clones. Familiarize herself with them like ducks, to perfect her method."

"Don't tell me she took them off island? A contamination or escape would be….."

"Yes yes, I agree. I was adamant against it too." Hammond reassured his employee. "But with her it is a very special case and I allowed it only after she proved that she could control them when they are grown. Maldoon she was able to talk and control the actions of the velociraptors."

That stopped the younger of the two men in his tracks as he frantically looked through the pages in front of him, the rain running over the paper with the continued droplets. It was right there in black and white. She demonstrated that after a few hours of observation and translation she could indeed talk with and even control to a great degree the raptors. And not just velociraptors but the dilophosaurs and even the Tyrannosaur was swayed by her methods to do simple tasks.

"And how do you know she won't sell to a rival after getting these dinosaurs?"

"Because she decided to become on of our investors, and no small cost I assure you." Hammond said as the copter approached for a landing. "She fronted half of the investment of our new behavior testing lab and even detailed a few errors we have in the cloning procedure...which is why she wanted these specialty dinosaurs made to test long-term development and Dr. Wu was happy to oblige."

The copter landed without difficulty as the Jurassic Park employee opened the door to reveal a stunningly beauty woman who looked no more that her mid-twenties with golden curling blonde hair and deep red lips. She was dressed in a purple version of the standard Jurassic Park attire of hiking boots, open t-shirt with under shirt, and jeans. She smiled as she was lead under the blades of the copter and towards the two men in question.

"Awe Aurora thank you for joining us." Hammond said as she smiled and removed her sunglasses. Her eyes were a bright purple and she looked for all the world like a cross between a fashion model and some sort of fairy tale character. But if she had the goods and skills Maldoon would gladly take the help.

"A pleasure Mr. Hammond." She returned the handshake. "I hope that my request is understandable. As I need long-term access from the earlier age to be able to properly understand your creatures and long-term socialization is key to any anima'ls proper development."

"So you can control raptors?" Maldoon said as he tucked the paper under his arm.

"Indeed, is that a problem?"

"Maldoon is our resident game warden and raptor expert." Hammond interjected. "He keeps worrying about the safety of the park and its people."

"And I care about the men I work with."

"Excellent. Then we shall get along very well as I am here to ensure that this park is safe for all here; people and animals. Even if all your safety designs fail, power go out, equipment accident or random weather, that your people will be able to safely handle interacting with even the raptors and tyrannosaurs."

"That seems an impressive or impossible boast to me." Maldoon smirked.

"Gentlemen you and I work in the field of making the impossible reality." She smiled back honestly and that reformation that he got from her that she understood the importance of this meant that maybe this would actually work out for once. But he need to test her, and if the babies with scyths for toes didn't scare her off then things may be finally working right. "Now where are the animals you wanted me to work with?"

Maldoon smirked as he wanted to see someone who seemed like a braggart and a supermodel get a real taste of the danger of Jurassic Park. She would either left running and exposed as a fraud, or if she was as good as she bragged then she would be worth the temporary disruption.

The rains continued to pure as the grey painted and red marked jeeps bumped down the rather muddy road towards the main building. The park was afterall in only the earliest of stages and the more advanced security features were months away from being completed. In all the excitement to add as many species as possible, John Hammond had developed the nasty habit of running ahead and it was something both Maldoon and the head engineer Ray Arnold had tried to hammer home the need of redundancies and realistic goals for the park. Hammond, however, was more likely to follow the next pie in the sky idea or throw tons of funds on a new amber deposit.

See this was one of the many things that Maldoon had worried about with this new addition to the park crew. She was firm in her belief in her skills and had apparently impressed him enough that the aging head of INGen had given her a copy of the current cloning list, but without seeing what she could do in action she could have been a liability.

"So Aurora is it, how exactly does this training of yours work?'' Maldoon said as the covered jeep's roof was pelted by continued rains. "And getting a wild bird to do what you want is very different from what you are being asked to do."

"Would you believe that I actually talk with animals?" Aurora joked as Maldoon gave her a rather confused look. "And not in the same sense as you may talk with your dog or cat. In that case they are picking up the occasional signal and years of interaction form a subconious bond between the two of you. No what I do, and have done many years, is that I talk with animals in their own language."

Maldoon's shock at that statement was great, but not enough to stop the jeep.

"You some sort of Dr. Dolittle love?" Hammond chuckled at the comment.

"Don't believe me?" Aurora calmly replied as a very mischievous type of grin showed on her face. "Mr. Maldoon perhaps you would like to try and assist me in this."

Hammond smiled. "What a splendid idea. Maldoon is our game warden so you two will work closely on this project."

Maldoon was really uncertain about having a woman like her close to him. It would seem unprofessional and he tried to focus on this driving a bit more firmly. Plus most of the men he worked with would be from the mainland and had to work for weeks on end before their shifts were up. The cycling of employees in and out of the island helped to keep mistakes down and the down time helped to calm the nerves of some of the more…flighty of the personnel from getting themselves spooked by the very aggressive animals the island was trying to care for. It was only a few years that viable dinosaur babies had been cloned, but even after a few months a number had already been a pain for trainers. So combining a beautiful young woman on an island working with his men that were always on edge…that was going to be trouble fast. Even if she was as good as she bragged, the last thing he needed was anyone getting careless around the animals.

"Well if you are so keen to try your skills on a living dinosaur, then perhaps we can see what you can do right now?" The jeep pulled into the back of the visitor center.

"What are you suggesting?" Hammond asked as everyone exited the vehicle and made a run into the back loading area of the building.

Maldoon opened the door for the other two as the rains continued to pour outside.

"Thank you." Aurora said as she nodded her head to the older man.

"A pleasure ma'am." Maldoon was taken for a moment to realize that she was very polite and had been nothing but genuinely respectful to him. Still he wanted to see what she could do, and he knew that in the back of the command center they had stowed a few of the raptor chicks for study next to the hatchery…

"Now what were you saying about testing her?" Hammond smiled.

"We got a few raptor chicks in the nursery, care to have her show what she can do?" Maldoon looked at his employer, and then to the young lady in question who beamed a bright smile at the idea.

"I would love to." She replied as Hammond smirked.

As the park was in the earliest of stages and the guest stuff was still not fully furbished, the Command Center was being worked on constantly with electricians and engineers retrofitting everything, but the hatchery and the holding pins for the younger dinosaurs were functional…at least they seemed to be. The doors were reinforced carbon steel with bullet proof glass throughout. A mistake made earlier with a pachycephalosaur was that they didn't have strong enough glass, but couldn't let the animals go unobserved for too long least they have a health issue and need immediate medical care. Flashing a security card key at the door and pressing a few buttons, all three walked into the nursery room. Even there the level of containment was high as it worked like a kennel system with each dinosaur species having it's own temporary holding pin.

"Well here they are." Maldoon said as he pulled out a large metal key and turned it in the lock. The large bolts swung back and the door unlocked.

"Thank you." Aurora said as she walked into the pin where three red tiger stripped young raptors were busy playing with what looked like toys for large dogs. The plastic of which had been essentially chewed to oblivion and the stuffed animals put into the room had been violently eviscerated.

"What are you thinking Maldoon?" Hammond said as he shot his long time trusted friend a look.

"If she is as good as she said she is, then I'll eat my hat." Maldoon said. "She ask for anything out of this?"

"All she asked for was the recordings of the animal cries to listen too in preparation for the visit. As far as a contract goes, she said that if she proved her worth she would not only join as an employee but help fund the park as an investor. Something about her father and father-in-law and her own small fortune from a film years ago. She also has experience with theme parks and connections that she has kept secret for now, but if this works…"

"If this works…." Maldoon nodded.

At first the raptor hatchlings took a moment to notice the blonde haired woman who invaded their territory. The dinosaurs where about the size of an actual velociraptor and covered with what looked to be fuzz of some sort. Their eyes brilliantly snapped to attention as they saw the new intruder. Usually someone would only come in to bring them food and they started to snap hungrily with their scythe claws anxiously tapping the floor.

"You didn't lock the door did you?" Hammond asked his friend.

"No. Not risking anyone's life on a crazy idea John. Not my style." Maldoon only held the door shut as he braced himself to have to yank the poor girl out before she got hurt.

As the raptors took note of the new guest, they moved their heads back and forth and side to side. Nostril's flaring to detect some sort of food or treat that was usually thrown to them and then the strange visitors would leave. But this time there was no food and this new person smelled odd, not like the others who smelled of fear and agitation…it perplexed the baby dinosaurs that something that looked like a food bringer wasn't afraid of them.

Then the oddest thing happened, the new visitor opened her mouth and started to sing. Just as simple one oscillating tone utterance that transfixed the dinosaurs and they lined up calmly in front of her. No one knew what was going on, and then.

"Yonm" she made a smiled perfect call in raptor tongue that made the dinosaurs eyes widen in shock. She repeated the greeting "yonm". Hammond and Maldoon were as transfixed as the young killers in the room were.

Then one of the raptors replied in a high-pitched and nasal reply "yonm." Aurora smiled at it and approached all three without fear as the four in the room started to have for all the world looked like a conversation.

"I'd be bloody well sorted…" Maldoon said in shock.

Hammond just smiled, having read and now seen with his own eyes what this woman could do. He had read the report of what she did on Isla Sorna at their off-site growth lab, but to see it in person was borderline magic. The reports had not been exaggerated in the slightest.

This stunning woman who could sway many with looks alone was talking with an animal known to attack just about any who got close and they were so docile that she was able to pet them as if they were housecats.

"What is going on here?" A voice from behind said as the two men watched in utter fixation. "Who is that and why is she touching my specimens?" It was the head cloning expert of the park: Dr. Wu who was livid that someone dared enter his specially maintained enclosure and was touching his animals exposing them to who knows what pathogen from the mainland.

"Ah Dr. Wu, this is Dr. Aurora Briar Rose from Berkley. She is our new head animal trainer and specialist who is going to be helping Maldoon and his men better handle our dinosaurs. She is really quite fascinating."

"Mr. Hammond do you have any idea how dangerous this is? How could you?" Dr Wu was furious at this. The danger of having an unvetted individual that close to the dinosaurs with as low as the birth rate was, and with animals that could rip her flesh like an eagle. Was Hammond out of his mind?

"Quiet both of you." Maldoon said. "She's talking with them. She's almost having them eating out of her hands." Never before had the big game hunter seen the like of this, and now that he did he kept careful notes of all he had seen. After about ten minutes of chatting the woman even had the raptors stand back and sit as she exited the room. Maldoon slowly closing and locking the door behind her.

"I hope that my demonstration was up to your satisfaction." She smiled at all those gathered near her. "I can't wait to get started."

"Well I am impressed, but you do know that you won't work with babies all the time. These velociraptors grow to be about the size of a bear when fully grown by our estimates." John Hammond said as he shook her hand.

"Velociraptors? You call them velociraptors?" Aurora looked at him curiously.

"Yes velociraptors. I should know I cloned them myself." Dr. Wu smirked at her. Though he was impressed by her work.

"Dr. Wu I take it?" Aurora asked the man who just arrived. He nodded his response while shaking her hand.

"Not to tell you your job, but velociraptors only got to be about three feet high when fully grown doctor." Aurora said, though respectfully. "These are already almost that big and they are only a few months old. What you have here is clearly not a velociraptor."

"And I take it that you are a paleontologist then?" Dr. Wu said smirking his disapproval.

"Now now." Hammond calmly said as all four humans still stood outside the animal holding cells. The raptors crying to having their friend notice them. She smiled back and had a few one-off calls that were replied to with what seemed cheerful chirps and calls. "What would you say this species is then?"

"Well if it is a perfect clone, then I would guess perhaps Achillobator or Utahraptor. All the more reason I want to help."

"If you can do with the adults what you just did with those babies…well first rounds on me." Maldoon said in awe.

"Thank you. And I have no doubts about how dangerous this work is. Poison spitting that you never expected, eventually dealing with intelligent and aggressive full sized carnivores, the herbivores that and smash through most gates….I am well aware of the danger and after seeing this place I want it to succeed safely for the guests and the dinosaurs. So gentleman not only do I want to help, but I am also becoming your newest investor…provided that a few stipulations are followed and my suggestions are followed to the letter." She pulled from her wallet a check, a very ornate check with 3 million dollars written on it. "I assure you this will go through, but if I work with you and am an investor then I am here as a peer. Not to step on your toes but as serious as you are about this so am I."

Hammond took a moment to collect himself, shook her hand, and accepted the check.

"Splendid." John Hammond said as he agreed with the new help he had. Always looking for more investors, and in constant need of funds, this was a wind-fall for him in more ways than one. Whatever she suggested probably would be done with few if any questions, but how on earth did she do that with those carnivores?

"Maldoon?" Aurora asked as she offered him her hand. He took in in a handshake faster than you could blink.

"Be a pleasure, just hope you don't mind working with a bunch of guys all day long."

"I am nothing if not professional. My only worry is what I'm going to do with my husband Philip when I'm at work. And please my friends call me Rose."

"Oh I'm sure that we can keep him occupied." Hammond said. "Now I want to show you the rest of this island and formally welcome you to the Jurassic Park staff."

As Hammond took over the tour Maldoon and Dr. Wu carefully left the nursery.

"So who's the princess?" Dr. Wu asked as he carefully took notes of this.

"Probably the only one who can keep a handle on this whole mess." Maldoon said in awe. "Never seen raptors act that way before…like she was the head of the pack."

To be continued.

Author's notes: Okay this is a little thought experiment of mine that is about the only story that has nothing to do with Gold Digger and came to me years ago. I was just waiting for the right time to make a story and really is more of a thought experiment than anything else. Why is this happening, why would Aurora join Jurassic Park. Well I'll try to work on that update soon as two movies are coming out this summer that perfectly time the release of this story and how people should be able to use their gifts to their fullest. If you want an explanation of what just happened I can go over it in detail in a note. Also yes I know that neither of the larger raptor species were discovered until years after the book and about the time of the first movie's release, and this fic starts well before the pack even attempts to be ready, but please go with it I have a reason for this.


	2. Chapter 2

Jurassic Park What If Chapter two

Just a walk in the park

Jurassic Park belongs to the estate of Michael Crichton and Universal Studios

Aurora and all related characters belong to Disney

I have no money and am making no money from this so please just enjoy as a work of fanfiction.

The late seventies and early eighties was a really bad time for the Disney company. With the death of the founder who had pushed so hard developing the art and the technology in 1966 there was a general lack of vision. Several attempts had been made to continue the magic with such works as the Black Caldron, which was a complete disaster as never before had Disney made a more mature movie, but as the family films and theme parks had problems with dwindling families due to the economic issues of the seventies and the disillusionment of the Post-Vietnam era many in the Disney company were worried about their futures.

Three months before joining INGen:

This was where Aurora found herself as she had long been more or less an overlooked member of the rather small cast of Disney princesses. Her movie sadly was nowhere near as successful as Snow White's and all the funds put into the art didn't turn into box-office success. Still with the cycle of re-releasing films after a few years and the upcoming development of VHS and Beta tape systems there was some funds combined with her income from merchandise and the castle visitors in Disneyland that kept her finances above water….but she knew that things weren't going to last forever. And thus why Aurora was once more passed out with her limbs hanging low with her head on the table in her room. Not by some sort of curse, but rather exhaustion from hard work doing her dissertation and her soft murmurs were the only sound in the room.

"Aurora?" An older woman's voice said as the old wooden door and what appeared to be to be an older sister to the princess entered. She was in reality her mother Queen Leah who had to give Aurora up as a baby to the three fairies to save her life. "Aurora dear you alright?"

The older woman placed her hands on her daughter shoulders and tried to rouse the younger awake. It had some success as a very groggy and out of it princess blinked and put her hands to her forehead. "Yea I'm okay. Ten more minutes." Aurora almost passed out again at this.

"Dear you need to get some rest." Her mother smiled at her and got her up from her work. "You are pushing yourself too hard lately."

"But mom I need to."

"Now now. I am so proud of you, but you need to get to bed and rest." Leah said putting a cloak on her daughter and sitting next to her on her bed. "Oh look at you. I am so happy that my little girl is getting her doctorate." The queen hugged her daughter and kissed her forehead. "You have done so much more than I ever thought anyone would do. But you need to rest for your graduation ceremony. No need to pass out as you get your degree handed to you." The soft motherly smile on Leah's face was enough to convince the completely out of it Aurora that getting sleep on the bed was a better idea that being passed out at the desk and soon her girl was fast asleep. But thankfully one that she didn't need Philip fighting some enraged fae with the powers of hell to get her up again.

Leah silently made her way out of the room only to bump into the very same young man in doing so.

"Uh Philip didn't see you." She smiled at her son-in-law.

"It's okay. How is she doing?" the prince asked as he kept away from the door.

"She is fine, just extremely tired." Leah answered. "Which makes me wonder what you were doing rather than helping her in bed." Leah smirked. Philip was almost shocked at that. Apparently smarminess was something Aurora got from her mom.

"Wow uh hey I asked her what I could do to help and what she needed for the last few months was time to focus on her research. Anything I can do I made sure to, but this is something that she needed to work out by herself." Facing dragons breathing fire was easy, trying to make sure your mother-in-law liked you was a whole different problem.

"You are a good man my son." Leah smiled as she patted his shoulder. "And putting your faith in her is something you can't underestimate. So how do you feel about her having a doctorate? No one seemed to ask you about any of this."

"I'm proud, more than proud. I'm overjoyed that she got a chance to do something for her sake."

"My how thoughtful of you." Leah smiled as the two gave their other family member the distance needed to get a good night's sleep.

"Hey I married her right? Don't husbands and wives support eachother?" Philip said as they continued through the castle. Modern electric lighting and heating were an added bonus and the fridge they had installed years ago had the added bonus of keeping food safe…and icecream.

"I'm glad to hear that." Leah said as she was trying to get some sort of treat for herself. "So what have you been up to lately?"

"Beyond the shows and touring around the parks and castles with Aurora, sad to say not much." Philip had to admit. "Give horseback riding lessons, tried a few times to be a medieval combat instructor for films, all minor stuff but with the economy being what it is….I mostly try to not spend money."

"Ever try to go back to school yourself?" Leah asked as she had her dessert.

"What two family members trying to get advanced degrees at the same time? No thank you m'lady." Philip replied. "I would love to have my own at some point, but right now Aurora needs me to be there for her as she is under enough stress as is."

"I can understand that." Leah said nodding. "Stefan and I had a lot of problems we had to rely on each other to overcome, especially with Aurora missing. I remember the first time you two saw each other. The look on your face was priceless."

Philip groaned a bit at that. In all fairness Aurora was a baby at the time and Philip was about 6 or seven and what seven-year-old boy likes babies. Still she had grown up to be an extremely remarkable woman and not just because of her looks. She was sweet, curious, kind, dignified, and playful but no fool.

"Don't remind me." Philip said as he was so embarrassed at that. "At least you aren't bugging us for kids…uh oh boy…"

Leah looked at him for a moment. "What Stefan and I aren't the Archduke from Cinderella." Leah said. "When or if you have kids it will be great. I am just happy that my one girl is back and happy."

The next morning was the day of graduation at Berkley. Thankfully getting some sleep Aurora was bright as ever in her graduation gown. Not since her wedding had she been so happy to be dressed up. The great hall was covered in banners marking the congratulations for that current year and she new that up in the stands her husband, her parents, and her father-in-law were all so happy at her hard work. It had taken a lot of persuading to have her animal friends not try to attend, as many had been life-long companions, but no pets and they were not service animals so they had to stay in the forest to celebrate with her later.

"Doctor Aurora Briar Rose, PHD in biology in ornithology, animal behavior studies, and animal psychology. And our Summa Cum Laude for the graduating class of 1980." Aurora beamed with pride as her family clapped with joy. She gladly took the diploma and shook the hands of her professors, dean of the university, and the President of Berkley.

"Congratulations my dear." They all said in various ways as she accepted her diploma and she nodded politely with head handshake.

"Thank you all so very much." The princess, now also a doctor, returned to her seat afterwards and allowed the next graduate to have their chance. There was this odd old man with a white suit and a walking cane in his hand that took notice of her from time to time. She had seen him before during her dissertation and many times during her displays with wild robins. She had heard his name in passing a few times as Halmond or such. Some sort of private donator to the school…well whatever kept the funds going right.

The evening of the graduation was a huge party to be sure, at least that was what Aurora had expected it would be when she got home. But before everyone left that same man she noticed approached her with a great smile on his face.

"Dr. Rose." He said to her waving his hands, the top of his cane firmly clutched in his hands. "Dr. Rose a moment of your time please."

"Of course…Mr.?"

"Hammond, John Hammond." He was very friendly and shook Aurora's hand with gusto. "And I have been watching your display with animals for quite some time now. I'm a big contributor to the school here among other things and your gift with animals is absolutely fascinating."

"Why thank you." So he was a donator, which was a relief to the princess as she was unsure as to this man's motivations. "And thank you for helping keep this place going. Are you an animal expert or?"

"Actually for many years I have run a nature preserve and zoo in South Africa. Very big deal, latest developments possible in maintaining vanishing species with the most advanced technology and best personnel I can find….which is why I was wondering something about you my dear…Are you looking for a job?"

Aurora couldn't believe her luck. A job offer right after her degree? Well she wasn't going to pass an honest chance for employment up, but had to be sure of his offer.

"Uh excuse me you are?" Philip pipped in as he approached his wife's side unsure of the old man before her.

"John Hammond." He smiled at the prince and shook his hand with great enthusiasm. "And you are?"

"The name's Philip and I'm her husband." The prince made clear in no uncertain terms. Who was this guy and what did he want? Philip was thinking again and again.

"Splendid splendid." Hammond smiled. "It is a pleasure to meet you too. I guess your family is all here and you probably all want to get dinner soon. If I may offer to pay for us all, would you be willing to hear out my proposition. I can guarantee it will be unlike anything you have ever imagined."

Philip smirked at this and turned to his wife who nodded a "why not" expression.

"Okay if she is good with then, the we will hear this offer of yours. Be warned though my father is quite fond of food." Philip smiled as Hammond followed on to meet and greet Stefan, Leah, and Hubert. All of whom were wondering what job was being offered. The last member of the party less so as food was in front of him along with alcohol so he was…well not part of the conversation.

"So what is this about a job for my daughter?" Stefan asked very respectfully, and with no small amount of pride.

"Well I have this island. 120 miles off the coast of Costa Rica. A new nature preserve after the one in South Africa. All documentation is there as I leased this land from the Costa Rican government. And it's a nature preserve as well, but unlike any other in the world with the park funded by tourism as a sort of all-natural theme park….very latest in design, but not like anything anyone has ever tried before."

"A theme park and nature preserve?" Aurora asked. "How exactly is this going to work?"

"Because the animals in question are, well how can I say this….have you ever had a dream that takes a hold of you and doesn't let go? Something you must follow no matter what because it so becomes part of you that you can't think of anything else?"

Aurora nodded, the very thing had happened to her and Philip many years ago before they met in the woods. She shot her husband a knowing smile.

"Well, what if I told you that I too work with what every child dreams of and obsesses over for years."

"Don't tell me you have a dragon problem Mr. Hammond." Philip joked as everyone at the table laughed a bit. "If so, I can handle them."

"Oh not something as fanciful as dragons my dear boy, but you are close very very close. And please call me John. And from what I've seen from your lovely and talented wife, I have no doubt that you would be perfect in helping with the rather exotic animals at my park." John then pulled out a file folder and handed it to the recent doctoral recipient. "This is no minor temporary job, but a lifetime position and one with unlimited potential for growth."

Aurora gave the papers a once-over. She was no lawyer but knew of several that would help. Still the animals in question never were named, but that meant to her likely endangered and the risk of poaching was really high. Still with how little Disney was offering at the moment.

"This is a great offer Mr. Hammond…uh John, but I do have some minor responsibilities that I will have to work around as well that I hope we can negotiate."

"My dear your help would be a blessing to me and my goals, as well as the dreams of millions of people and kids around the world. I think we can work something out."

Jurassic Park, five months after becoming part of INGen.

Sleep was the furthest thing from Aurora's mind when she was dealing with trying to rewrite all of the safe animal handling instructions for the park. Three cups of coffee and another late night meant that she was going to be crashing that afternoon. Still it was worth it as she browsed through the various injury reports. Raptors were one dangerous animal to underestimate and while she could control them by herself, the park needed careful guidelines to prevent potential attacks.

"They are like ravens with switchblades." Aurora said running her hands through her long golden locks and stretching her neck back.

"Everything alright?" She heard a man ask from behind her. Aurora blinked for a second and the warm face of the glass wearing head engineer of the Park and one of a handful of people who tried their best to keep John Hammond's ambitions: Ray Arnold. The chain smoking family man was caring an additional cup of coffee in his hand and this half-used bad habit in the fingers holding his own cup. His smile and the way he over-worried about every minor detail was in stark contrast to just about every other guy Aurora knew outside of her own father King Stefan.

"So far so good. Does it ever seem like too much for you…worrying about everything all the time?" The princess asked the man as she took the coffee and bolted the drink.

"Well if I didn't then you would be even more irreplaceable than you are now." He replied to his coworker. "Without your gift to help calm our parks animals then we wouldn't be able to really get any rest. That and my worries about outbreaks and escapes would probably give me an early heart attack."

Aurora smiled at him. "Well you keep us all safely protected from power failures and you have the task of making sure our guests actually get to safely enjoy their visits with these prehistoric creatures." She stretched her arms having grown weary from her work.

"So how do you do it? How exactly do you get into the mind of a dinosaur?" Ray asked as he sat down at his computer station.

"How do I what?" Aurora laughed. The question seemed completely absurd to her. She wasn't a telepath afterall.

"What else would you call it then?" Ray asked as he looked at the papers and open tabs on Aurora's screen. Details about behavior and development charts filling all pages. "You have gotten into the minds of these things and completely changed how we deal with the animals here. You even have some of the ultrasounds of their craniums on your desk. So tell me, how do you get into the mind of a dinosaur?"

"Okay I'll admit that does seem a rather true description of what I'm doing, but honestly what I really am doing is trying to figure out the range of the complex signals and communication signal ranges of each species while studying their interactions." Aurora explained. "Ever notice how smart some birds may be? Or ever have a kid you never thought would get out of a playpen only to have them running around the house hours later?"

"I've got two of those at home. Keep going."

"With that understanding I am trying to determine the range and detail of signals as the basis for understanding how complex a conversation one can have with each species at what times." Aurora said as she pulled up a file on a bird parents singing to their eggs. "With living animals the parents start talking to their offspring while they are developing in the egg and the effect on their calls and social development is clear. But with how we have to clone our dinosaurs the adults never talk with the babies which may cause unforeseen development problems."

"So what does this have to do with getting dinosaurs to obey you?" Ray asked as he looked at the screen great interest.

"Long story short, to be able to communicate and understand these animals I have to understand how they develop from hatchlings to adult. So I am comparing what I have seen dealing with the younger animals with the social structure of the adults and how the language changes and develops. With this I can give you the data you need for adapting our security grid."

Ray nodded as he understood what she was getting at.

"And all this lets you get into the mind of these creatures by learning their language?"

"The more complex the language and exact the signals that give more precise the messages between individuals then generally the more intelligent the animal. It's the same with songbirds actually." Aurora said as she looked back at the comparisons on the screen.

"Song birds?" Ray started to laugh.

"Dinosaurs are extremely like birds aren't they?" Aurora smiled back as she continued. "In fact until the cloning worked the only surviving dinosaurs were birds and we know that birds can be highly social and highly communicative."

"Which is why you said that the raptors were like ravens." Ray was getting a better understanding of the difficulties this job truly had and finally started to understand these animals we animals and animals were not predictable as computer files. Which is why he liked having the young lady doing the hard work that she did as Hammond still didn't fully comprehend the danger of what he was doing. Maldoon and Ray had worked hard to build the best animal containment systems and layouts that allowed the future visitors to see the animals but not allow the dangerous animals to get too close.

The more dangerous the more the visitors would want them to be visible. Raptors and Tyrannosaurs were top of that list but neither species really had the best enclosure to show them off. Heck Dr. Wu had even made some serious mistakes in his cloning that had made the T-Rex hyper sensitive to sunlight the first time as the toad DNA had messed up the thickness of the animal's skin. The cost of repairing these issues would have nearly bankrupted the park if not for the lady with Ray telling the staff what the problem was. Whatever Hammond had done years ago to earn this girl joining the team had to be big.

"Better than trying to compare them to writing desks." Aurora said thinking to herself of one of her coworkers back in Berkley and a riddle he asked a young Alice. "How are things on your end?"

"Well trying to justify the cost of a brand new raptor enclosure was one of the best acts of theater I had ever seen John do, but it was either re-organize the pen with re-enforced bullet-proof glass and a handlers using vocal commands and signals when working with them….or just building a massive steel and concrete bunker and locking them all up."

"That later idea still unnerves me." Aurora sighed. "I'm all for making sure the danger between people and animals is minimized, but that would have only made them more aggressive and superhostile to anyone…isolation and imprisonment never works for people or animals."

"So any new insights so far?"

"Nothing major. At least nothing we haven't know about for a while." The princess said as she pulled up a recording of the soundwave files on the dinosaurs. "The last bit of work I have before I have the languages all translated is that the bigger dinosaurs are transmitting in frequencies you can't hear. And that makes completely understanding them to be tricky. Less so than hyper-intelligent knife-footed wolf falcons, but not nearly as a breeze as dilophosaur calls."

"What?" Ray said completely lost again.

"Infrasound. Soundwaves that people can't usually hear as the frequencies are so low that humans may feel it from time to time, but can't hear." Aurora said as she continued. "Elephants do it all the time to keep in contact with herds for miles and miles and pick the sounds up with their feet…as for our situation the hadrosaurs, sauropods, and even the Tyrannosaurs can transmit and receive infrasound."

"Do I have to worry about that breaking the windows of the SUVs?" Ray said rubbing his temples. "

"Like an opera singer? Probably not." Aurora said. "I may be an expert in sounds, but I'm not an engineer like you are."

Ray smiled at his younger looking coworker as he got back to this work. "Which leads us back to what I've been trying to do: Make the park more accessible for our future guests." The engineer in him couldn't stop detailing the expanding list of dangers he was only now getting a full understanding of.

"Which I'm getting worried that the technology just does not exist to do what Hammond wants with this park."

"Which is why I am here, and glad for the future employment guaranty." Aurora said as she went back to detailing everything on her computer and writing small notes in a journal that she decided to carry on her at all times. It was an old book with golden trim and had some rather ornate covering on it. Not at all the standard rit-in-the-rain yellow notebook most of her coworks would you in studies, but it was a nice solid volume and in it she had a physical copy of everything that she had on her computer.

"So you got any family?" Ray asked as he went over his digital design for the new park features. "Heard something about husband, but any kids so far?"

"Not yet, but not for lack of trying. You?"

"Yea wife, kids. Whole reason I left my previous job is I didn't feel comfortable doing what I was doing. Now I'm constantly worrying about what happens if something here goes wrong why they are visiting and you are not here to keep things under wraps."

"I'm sure that your designs are fine Ray." Aurora said as she typed away shifting her next set of translations to the compies. Those little ones always were a pest to deal with as every time she thought she had them trained she always had another that she seemed to have overlooked that popped out of nowhere that only had some rudimentary comprehension of the language she had seen naturally develop in the compies and they didn't recognize her. This troubled Aurora.

"Nothing wrong with your brains…." She murmured as she studied carefully the CAT and MRI scans from the vet that the dinosaurs got on a regular basis. "No memory loss…."

"Another problem we have to deal with?" Ray said. "Hey you joining has gotten me down from three to only one pack a day and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Well it isn't a big deal so far, but the compies seem to have a fluctuating level of familiarity with me." Aurora said she went over the list of how many were cloned and how many were supposed to be in the park. So far 15 had been cloned, but that seemed way too low a number from what she had noted.

This was why she was so glad she had written down her details as she tried to note specific differences in the compies…well yes they were all clones but slight variations in body scars, temperament, and size of all things were indicators of individual specimens. But from Aurora's best guess she had at a minimum 20 compies. Something very wrong was going on. Dr. Wu was brilliant, and frankly she was in awe of his work all the time, but no matter what he or his mentor developed the fact was that life adapts and changes. Well enough of sitting down and note taking. Aurora needed to stretch her legs and get some fresh air. The confines of the command center were bugging her and so she grabbed her book, a pen, and headed out after saving her work.

"So Ray anything you want me to pick up for you?" Aurora asked as she headed out of the room.

"Naw I'm good." He replied. "Where are you off to?"

"Dilophosaur pens. I need to check to see if we have one species, two species, or if something else is going on." The regal woman answered as she picked up a pack with camera, rolls of film, and a few pairs of safety glasses.

"Just so long as they don't spit in my face then we don't have a problem." The older looking man waved on his associate who made her way to the garage in the back of the compound. Thankfully the dilophosaur pens were close to the main gate to the park track. Hammond so far had only one track with one route working. Aurora knew this was going to be trouble when she was asked to help open this place and memories of the failure of the first few days of Disneyland filled her mind as she tossed her package into her jeep and popped on some shades.

Other attempted rides and attractions included the pterosaur cages, a river side trip through a selection of more open animal areas, and the usual assortment of high-end tennis courts and other luxury accommodations. The river voyage was turning out to be an absolute pain to try as they had decided to construct most of the pathway without understanding a lot of the animals they wanted people to see. Hadrosaurs like parasaurolophus often emitted ultra-low frequency soundwaves in their deep honking communications and found that if the herd was spooked they would all cry out this way causing chaos among the other species and had the nasty effect of temporary hearing loss in people along with the potential of causing seizures for those sensitive to noise. Thankfully a few recordings of Aurora singing had the effect of calming the herds, provided the speakers were working.

This was a temporary fix though as it was found that wanting to make the ride a danger to all was that the engineers and architects wanted to add a predator to the ride. The Tyrannosaur was far too dangerous and would have been able to rip passengers right off the boats from the shore and raptors were way too agile and cunning to just let easy prey go by without at least trying to attack. So the ignorant boobs decided to run the river right past the dilophosaur pens and right into the sights of sniper level accurate toxic sharpshooters. If the hadrosaurs were dangerous because of an unexpected gift they had, the dilophosaurs were a hundred times worse.

Aurora popped her CD selection open as she belted up and cranked the engine. The JP jeep roared to life as she pushed in the clutch and shifted the key. The lady smiled as she effortlessly shifted gears and pulled the jeep from it's assigned spot and then drove off into the main park section. How would anyone react when they found out she loved to drive herself places rather than take the usual coach? Oh there was a mystique to the old ways, but horse-drawn methods couldn't go 60 miles an hour, have stereo systems, and she wouldn't risk horses on this island. Too great a potential for diseases from the mainland and they were way too easy prey if something spooked them and they got into any of the many predator pens. Already Dr. Wu was planning to add allosaurs, carnotaurus, baryonx, ceratosaurus, and was working a secret project that wasn't even fully revealed to those outside the cloning staff on Isla Sorna. So popping in a CD the princess let the wind go through her hair in the open top Jeep while humming to the tunes of "I Wonder".

The workers were busy constructing the entrance gate and the lovely woman was easily a distraction to most of the men, or at least the new men. Anyone who saw what she did with the raptor during their daily feeding or had the occasion to see her help the T-Rex acclimate to it's new paddock, a thankfully much larger than originally planned on, knew that for as good as she looked, she was off limits for flirting and was part of the staff to be listened to just as much as Maldoon.

"Oh senora." Aurora heard as she slowed down waiting for the men working the sign's construction to pass out of the way of her vehicle. "Where are you headed off to today?"

It was the foreman who had seen her vehicle drive the dirt covered path about a half mile back.

"Oh hey Edwardo." She smiled as he walked up to her jeep. He was an older man, mid forties, and the effects off many a home-cooked meal could be seen in his expanded waistline. Not as much as her father-in-law, but no doubt Ed's wife was a good cook. "Dilophosaurs today. Trying to make the river-ride safer."

"O' spitters." He knodded. "My men still don't go too close to them without full face masks. Why don't they just remove the poison sacks already?"

"Supposedly they don't know where they are, and don't want to cut something important out least the animal dies….it's still very expensive to clone each animal one by one."

"Si…but you know if you can get them to not spit, then my men would be more relaxed don't you think? No attacking someone they don't think is food you know."

"That's what I'm working on." She smiled. "Or at least trying to." Ed smiled and knodded.

"Just don't get yourself hurt Senora Rose. Hammond would have my head if anything happened to you." He waved her on as Aurora shifted gears again and made her way deeper into the park. The dirt path was already being prepared for the auto-tram tour with the underground wiring and sensors, but the vehicles were years away from being perfected and thankfully there was more than enough room to clear the metal guide-rain in her jeep to get to the side-access doors to the cages.

Speaking of which, the dilophosaur pens were one of the more basic models of pen in the park as the animals were not nearly as…well to say they were stupid was wrong but they were from the early Jurassic and were several million years older than the other predatory dinosaurs on Isla Nublar. Jokingly they were the only actually Jurassic theropod of note in Jurassic Park. The fences didn't need to be as overly tall, as dilophosaurs weren't really as agile as the raptors, but the open back to the river was a very bad idea for visitors.

"Hey girls." Aurora sang out as she parked the jeep and put the parking break on. "How are you all doing today?" The dinosaurs instantly stopped their mingling and napping. A soft hooting sound came from them as they lined up in a semicircle. "Alright alright you bunch." The lady smiled with a coy grin. "Look what I brought." She popped open her safety glasses and grabbed a feeding bag along with the pack she had stowed all her stuff into. The double-locked gates made a special bend so that people could get in and out, but the dinosaurs had to exit through a larger gate release. Thus workers could get in, but the dinosaur would get stuck in the doorway and unable to exit the pen. Locking both gates behind her Aurora was now alone in a pen of rather voracious carnivores. She smiled at this as she felt completely at ease doing this.

"whooot"

"Chirrrttt"

The dinosaurs happily sounded as they dipped their necks low and let their arms drop slightly as Aurora got closer. So far there were four in the enclosure and a fifth one in the pin. A fully grown dilophosaur was a very intimidating predator at about 20 feet in length and about 2 tons in weight. Camouflaged coloring of a dark green dorsal pigments their skin shifted to a dappled mixed yellow on the underside and flank. Along with the toxic spit, what the Jurassic Park was not expecting was the development of a frill that could pop-up instantly if the animal was stressed or upset. The folds looked like just a series of ripples on the neck like perhaps oversized muscles, but as soon as one of the theropods got angry special cartilaginous structures in the neck anchored right behind the head would pop up and whoever was looking at them would be dazzled by yellows, reds, and spots of the colors of the membranous skin within the folds would shock whoever was not expecting it. This distraction offered the perfect time for the hunter to spray its toxin into the eyes of whatever it was either hunting or defending against.

Thankfully they were easily distracted by food, which is what Aurora was bringing with her.

"Okay Becca watch your footing. Maple don't crowd your sisters." Out of the bag the royal tossed each of them a rather large fish, trying to follow how a bird would feed its young, and each time the threw it, the corresponding dinosaur would grab it out of the air and proceed to use their heads and razor sharp teeth to adjust the snack to go head first down into their gullet.

"Hey don't get too greedy or you won't have room for dinner." This chiding was combined with a series off whooting sounds that got the dilophosaurs to calm down and sit down leaving divuts in the soil. "Now lets have a look at all of you." Pulling her camera, Aurora took photos of each of the grown dilophosaurs before her and made notations in her book. The vets would have their check-ups too, but not even the bravest would want to get this close without drugging the dinosaur and that had it's own set of issues.

"Good girls." She cooed to them as she noted down measurements, any differences in their skin, or whatever changes may have happened as they developed.

"Oh and what do we have here?" Aurora dropped her glasses down a second as she noted that the largest of the group, not really a pack persay but not just a conglomeration, had developed something odd. "Well Gina looks almost like you could be called Ginger now." Aurora laughed at herself. "You got a dye job since last week?"

What Aurora was talking about was the usual green and brown color of the dilophosaur crest of the individual in question was turning a bright red color. Cautiously she approached the dinosaur and took out a pair of gloves as she gently stroked the head of the creature before moving on to examine the new coloration she was seeing. Making sure to give a series of calming hooting noises, "Gina" didn't give Aurora any problems as the princess examined the animal before her. "Good news is that your skin is perfectly fine…no bleeding." She had intended to be just talking to herself, but it seemed that that even if "Gina" didn't speak English that she understood she was doing good.

"This I'm going to have to record." Aurora took out her camera and carefully photographed everything. While she got updated pictures of the dinosaurs regularly, this was a shock that needed to be talked with the vets about.

"Okay girls whoot whoot." Walking back from the group, Aurora indicated that the dinosaurs before her could stand up. "Reeerreek." Aurora called again and each dilophosaur headed to the side of the pen nearest the water. Aurora pulled out a radio from her bag and made a call.

"Hey Harding, Rose here."

"Go ahead Rose." Harding or rather Gerry Harding was the head vet of Jurassic Park. He was the head vet at the San Diego Zoo years ago and focused his studies on exotic birds. Aurora found him to be completely indispensable as head handler and trainer and he found her to be an invaluable assistant in his work. Afterall a drugged dinosaur can be dangerous and all vets have the issue of not being able to ask their patients what is wrong…that is until Aurora showed up and was able to talk with the dinosaurs.

"You drop by the dilophosaur pens lately?"

"Not recently." He said with a thoughtful voice. "Something wrong with them?"

"Not sure if there is something wrong, but the biggest one, Gina, has developed distinct red colorations on her crest."

"I notice that as well." He said in thought "I'll keep an eye on it. Don't you have to go home in another day?" He asked her sounding like he was working on something.

"Yep two weeks back in California and then back in another two weeks." Our heroine sighed as she kept a careful watch on the predators before her. What was going on with these dinosaurs? The film roll was still full of a few more shots so Aurora decided to check out some of the other pens and leave the film for Harding to have developed on site during her rotation.

"So what are you up to now?" Aurora asked as she made her way out of the pen and mad sure that the doors were bolted shut.

"Whoot whooot." Aurora took a moment to call out to the dilophosaurs, who returned the call and then got back to moving around their pen. "Good girls." Aurora smiled. Her training seemed to have worked perfectly and she would make sure to leave some digital copies of the commands for the other handlers of her voice. This was going to be one of the keys to the park's success: recordings with specific commands with specific rewards and done so with their own language.

"So where are you right now?" Aurora asked as she put the feed bag back into the station and headed back to the jeep.

"I'm working with the herbivores down on the south side of the park just beyond where you are." Harding replied. "We have been trying to acclimate the stegosaurs and triceratops to their new holding pens…but they keep getting sick every six weeks."

"About the time they get new gastroliths." Aurora thought to herself. "I'll be there in a bit. Did we clear out those west Indian lilac plants like I suggested." The princess was quietly thanking her more vocal godmother Flora for the tips on plants. The reluctant royal could have easily been an excellent botanist if she wanted too, but animals could be friends and plants not so much.

"Mostly yes, but we knew they weren't eating them." Harding said. "Especially if it wasn't constant sickness."

That was very true. Having to much several tons of vegetation in the form of shrubs and ferns a day meant that the herbivores would have been sick all the time. Looks like Aurora was going to get her hands dirty again.

"True. I'll be there in a few so just keep them calm till I arrive." Aurora gunned the jeep heading to the paddock for the two sick species. While they filled similar ecological roles, the constant influx of vegetation meant they usually didn't compete with one another…though the idea of having two very different species separated by about 80 million years right next to oneanother was probably just Hammond being Hammond.

Thankfully for Aurora she had ways to convince him to follow her ideas…especially when she could keep the men working faster than before with almost no animal problems….well no attacks at any rate.

Aurora pulled her jeep to the auxiliary area next to the stegosaur and triceratops pens and made her way to Harding. "So what do we have here?"

"Well we got one slightly distressed triceratops, and one very sick stegosaurus." The vet said as he let Aurora sooth both animals. "The triceratops is probably just getting over seasickness, but the stegosaurus has had the same problems as the others: nausea, severe diarrhea, and eye problems."

Aurora took a look at both and gently calmed them down as she placed her hand on one and then the other. "Hey it will be okay….shoosh…" The deep tones of their calls she added to this as she approached the stegosaurs. Those three foot long thagomizer spikes could kill a human in one blow, but Aurora's presence had made sure that the tail was on the ground without coming around to hit anyone.

"I don't get this." Aurora said as she looked at the animal in greater danger. "Every six weeks as before?"

"That's right. We've been careful with the plants we have here to make sure they can digest them, but something is making them sick and we can't figure it out."

"That's about the time these stegosaurs need new gastroliths." Aurora noted. "Have we been giving them chemically treated rocks perhaps?"

"You mean like paving stones? Not to my knowledge." Harding reassured his coworker. "We leave plenty of rough stones for them to consume, but usually we just grab them from the next worksite."

"Hey girl, someone isn't feeling good huh?" Aurora said as she looked her all over. "Your tongue looks like something you ate didn't agree with you." The poor animal's tongue was covered in what looked like blisters and a few popped in Aurora's hand.

"Gerry how about we try relocating the stones for a while. See if it clears up." Harding nodded as Aurora placed her hands on the sick herbivore's head. Stegosaurus had one of the smallest heads in comparison to the rest of it's body of any large herbivore in the park outside the sauropod and Aurora knew they didn't chew their food. The plants were clipped by the beak and super-sharp leave shaped teeth in the stegosaur's mouth that acted like a pair of scissors. This was mixed with the animal's saliva and moved down into the gut where the plants then got mashed together with rocks that were eaten to aid in digestion called gastroliths. Every so often the stegosaurs needed to replace those stones as the wear and tear would polished them, the chemicals in the stomach would dissolve them a bit, and the pounding they got would break them apart so they passed through the digestive tract one way or another. Triceratops however had a link-bar mouth that used powerful muscles attached to the frill and an enormous head in comparison to its body. This meant they just pulverized anything in their mouth…even if it too had a slicing action with it's teeth.

"We'll give it a try. I'll fax you the results." Harding said as he treated his sick patient.

Aurora moved to the triceratops that had just been shipped in from Isla Sorna. While not yet fully grown, the animal was formidable with two massive horns over it's eyes and a third at the front of it's snout. Already the size of an American Bison, the creature would be as dangerous with it's head as the stegosaur with it's tail. The bellows of indigestion and distress filled the pen as it was thankfully calmed by a gentle hand and a few low frequency calls. If it bolted then it probably would destroy a steel-reinforced wall, but right now it could barely stand.

"I take it the trip wasn't agreeable to you?" The blonde lady calmly asked. "You didn't like the ocean much huh?"

"Transporting them is a little tricky, since some have to be sedated somewhat. This one seemed fine but got sick after moving into the pen." Gerry said as he continued to treat the sick stegosaur.

"Poor fella." Aurora said as she tried to steady the ceratopsian. "Probably got sea sick or dehydrated. Sea choppy when they shipped him over?"

"I'll have to check with Ray about the weather when we get back to the command center. I'll stick around a while to make sure they are both recovering before I head in this evening." The vet smiled at his helper.

"Thanks." Aurora used up more of her film noting the stegosaur's tongue, eyes, and the less savory parts of both it and the triceratop's sickness. "I know that there is a lot we don't know about these creatures, and for all I can do we haven't got a lot to go on biology why…any idea who may be an expert?"

Gerry Harding took a moment to think. He was the best with exotic birds and Aurora could talk with and even somewhat control dinosaurs, but all they had to go on was speculation and rough understandings from their mutual interest in birds. But whereas all birds are dinosaurs, the inverse of this is not true and these were the first grown members of their kind since the Mesozoic. What they needed were experts in the Mesozoic and that meant an actual paleontologist.

"That would be a paleontologist, you wouldn't happen to have any in mind would you?"

Aurora thought for a moment. She remembered the old movie Fantasia and how completely wrong they were about dinosaurs then. Slow lumbering beasts in swamps destined to be replaced by mammals…no these were fast, intelligent creatures and she needed a radically different view to be of any help here.

"Dr. Robert Bakker, Dr. Jack Horner, and probably the best option would be Dr. Alan Grant." Aurora said as she gave it some thought.

"Bakker maybe but good luck having him keep his mouth shut….Horner is probably a good bet but he is working on egg mountain and is more interested in dinosaur mating and reproduction….no we need a field man who has the same radicle nature but is interested in how these creatures lived."

"I'm sure that Hammond would be able to get Grant into this. Funding has a way of motivating people." Aurora nodded with her fingers on the side of her head. She was going to have to make some phone calls soon; first to Hamond and then to Montana. If Hammond green lit this then that would be one less issue that would have to be dealt with, if not then they would have to come up with another idea.

"Never thought you would go for the money route." The vet joked.

"My friend I always try to go for the better angels of people, but I know that research cost funds and moose drool isn't cheap."

"Moose Drool?"

"Local Montana beer. You've never met a Montana paleontologist have you?" The male doctor shook his head. "I met a few doing my doctoral studies. Grant's reputation was known to a few of the other students." Aurora gave both giant herbivores a pat on the head. She had no idea how Grant would react to knowing dinosaurs were alive again, but if she was going to make this park the best she could of these animals then she needed some paleontological backup. She thought for a second about asking Fauna for help…but no that wouldn't do. This was Aurora's task and magic doesn't fix all problems and could make things worse.

"Keep me updated please." The lovely lady made her farewells and proceeded back to her jeep. Carefully taking notes about the dilophosaurs, the ceratopsian, and extremely detailed comments on the stegosaur that was ill, Aurora made sure to not let a single thing pass her mention. She cared for each of these dinosaurs just as she cared for every bird or mammal back in her kingdom.

"Sure. Heading off to another pen?"

"I'm going to take a quick look at the T-Rex Padock." Aurora replied as she prepared to drive off again. "I've heard they expanded the grounds and wanted to tell Rexy the good news."

"Rexy?" Harding chuckled.

"All my friends have a name Gerry." Aurora smiled as she started up the jeep again. "And they know what their names are."

The vet was left with that thought as he tended to his patient. "So what is your name then?" He asked as he continued to medicate the stegosaur. His patient groaned in a deep bellow, which didn't make much sense to Harding. "Well all the same, well make sure to get you back in good health."

The continued drive along the path leading up to the Tyrannosaur paddock lead around the slopes of a hill and was an absolutely stunning view of the valley beyond with an open plain for the gallimimus flock to run. This was important for the Tyrannosaur as well as Rexy was far from an adult and young tyrannosaurs look nothing like the adults. Aurora saw the other young royal running around her enclosure. As young tyrannosaurs are built for speed the future apex predator of the park was effortlessly making it around the enclosure at 45 miles an hour. When she was full grown the estimates were that top speed would drop to something around 30 to 25, but for now the Rex was like a slightly bulkier and bigger raptor in the way it acted. And it was voracious. Goats were being gobbled up like M&Ms as the already near bone-crushing bite would crush the prey in one chomp. Aurora wasn't bothered so much by this, as nature is nature after all, and the prey was bred to be food and killed without undo suffering. Rexy, for some reason, preferred to have her prey moving and would take little notice of things not active in her environment.

"Why hello fellow monarch." Aurora joked as she curtsied to Rexy, who roared in joy at the return of such a cheerful friend. "How are you doing?" Aurora had to deal with this dinosaur a little bit differently, for many reasons. One was that she kept dancing so her friend knew where Aurora was, or at least payed attention to her, and Rexy seemed to strut back and forth trying to match the movements. Aurora would almost giggle in joy at this and the situation didn't seem absurd to her in the least. Birds after all would do elaborate courtship dances and tyrannosaurs seemed to be very social animals with complex signals and bellows that the two would send back and forth between each other.

"Okay okay. So how are you doing? Liking your new habitat?" The young tyrannosaur's roar was overwhelmingly powerful and caused Aurora's hair to shoot back like she stepped in front of an industrial fan. Did this trouble the naturalist of the Disney princesses? Not one bit. She even roared back at Rexy.

"Well you are certainly in a good mood." Aurora said as Rexy was happily tracking back and forth in her Pen. The great predator was thankfully going to be moved to the larger paddock as it grew and the smaller area would work as a medical center when Rexy needed care. For now though it was plenty of space and had enough cover to keep off the bright light of day during those times when the island wasn't covered with fog. The skin was still an issue. Aurora was worried that this was some sort of mess up with the frog DNA. The treatment seemed to have made Rexy a bit better when dealing with sunlight where before intense UV light would completely dry out her skin, but she still had some sensitivity to it. "Probably be better by the time I get back." Aurora thought to herself.

"Okay, just hold still." The camera was in Aurora's hands again and she took a number of pictures of Rexy, trying to use the rest of the film. "I want to make sure to keep a record of you my friend." Rexy stayed still only for a moment or two, then went back to prowling around the enclosure before deciding to rest a moment among the ferns.

Aurora finished up the roll of film and put the camera away. Smiling she just looked at the growing killing machine before her. Fascination rather than fear filled her, and a familiar sense of homesickness mixed with it. At this point her home was just as much Isla Nublar as it was the Disney park in her castle.

"You know Rexy. I should thank you." Aurora said to her scaly friend. "This is the first time I have felt like I belonged, but I still have a home that I have to get back to in a day or so."

Rexy murmured, got up, and walked over to the steel bars of the containment center and then pressed its head to Aurora's hand. "Awe don't worry I'll be back in a few weeks." Aurora ran her hand across the powerful head of her friend and felt the pebble like skin. It was not like the flesh of a crocodilian, and whatever filament feather fibers were there as a hatchling had fallen off, but it was somewhat course and laced with nubs and the start of a rather impressive nasal ridgeline. Aurora would never admit it to her friend, but Rexy's breath stank as the bits of meat and bone got caught between the gums and inside the sharp serrations of the teeth. Soon those teeth would fall out as the head became even more powerful and the teeth would be replaced with widened rail-spike ones rather than the slicing blades that were in those powerful jaws now.

"You are growing up so fast." The princess smiled and rubbed her friend. "I wonder if this is how Flora, Fauna, and Maryweather felt when I turned 16….well at least almost like it was…sorry we don't have a mate for you Rexy, but who knows some day we may have a friend for you…just no eating them okay?"

Rexy shook that massive head a bit as a utterance that could be considered "whatever" was the reply given.

"Snow White and Cinderella aren't going to believe me when I finally get to show them you and this island. I've got to go friend. Try to be understanding with the handlers. I expect you to be on your best behavior befitting a future ruler." Whether Rexy cared for this or not, Aurora patted the large predator on the top of the head and made her way back to the jeep. The long hours, being tired, constant issues, all of it was worth it because this was something no one could take from her, and it was something she helped to build. Not given to her, not inherited, but proof that she could do something that was awesome and make something wonderful.

"Well back to trying to figure out those troublesome compies, and check out the rest of the park." Aurora gunned the engine of the jeep and the somewhat kept dirt road eventually giving way to a far muddier expanse that reminded Aurora a lot of her home country. This was the furthest the workers had been able to maintain, and as such often was filled with deep ruts as the various hadrosaur species from parasaurolophus to maisaurua moved throughout their territory. It was easy enough for the jeep to handle the terrain and the purple eyed royal navigated the tail heading back to the visitor's center with no problem. She didn't even mind the occasional pause as one of the dinosaurs walked across the path. The latest stop though got her to notice something.

Put to a full halt as a few loud parasaurolophus made their way to their favorite watering hole, Aurora started looking about as the over a ton grazers moved along. It was just a bunch of white, semiglossy bits that were along the road. Like someone had shot a few table tennis balls with a bebe gun…but it was at least something to do while the herd moved along.

"Now what is this?" She took a moment to hop out of the jeep and pick up one or two of the things for later. They felt smooth, very smooth to the touch. And brittle too as she snapped one in her fingers without thinking. She shrugged her shoulders. "Probably nothing…" She didn't think much about it, and hopped back into the jeep as the honking bodies before her cleared the road. "But maybe for later…." She stuffed the few fragments into her purse rather than her work bag, not thinking about it at all as her gaze didn't shift while she shifted gears. A few more days she would be back home with Philip and a few dinosaurs that she had been able to convince Hammond to let her keep hidden in her castle far from anyone's prying eyes. She decided to just finish her drive and head back to the center. Just a few more days so what would it matter.

Author's notes

I hope that you enjoy this work and please if you are a fan or watcher if you would be so kind as to leave a review as this has been on my mind almost as much as my Gold Digger fic and I know that many like that one. If anyone wonders about if anyone is out of character, I have to say that no one outside the fae in Sleeping Beauty are given much character development so everything is pulled from the subtle character traits as honestly the time they are given in their own story amounts to less than Darth Vader in A New Hope or the Tyrannosaur in the original Jurassic Park. But no Aurora is not a wall-flower and is actually shown to be very observant, though free spirited, and ambitious without wanting to take from others to achieve her dreams. I also like to point out that as great a film as Jurassic Park is at warning about the dangers of science without morality, Sleeping Beauty is a tail of cultural analysis and a view into the highly honor and status based society of the 14th century. As for how Aurora has access to her kingdom from her castle in Disneyland, or what everyone else is up to, please review and note me as I want so much to get feedback on this work. Thank you all very much and hope that you enjoyed this work of fiction.


	3. Chapter 3

Jurassic Park What if Chapter 3

The truth is stranger than fairy tales sometimes

By Alex McLean

John Hammond was always an eccentric individual who could get you to believe on a plan or investment no matter how insane or out of the realm of possibility most would consider. This trait had lead to a number of successes and investments that had made him extremely rich, if very risky. The park in Africa was such an investment. Genetic engineering to bring back dinosaurs was such a ludicrous idea that it would baffle imagination. But as Donald Gennaro knew just because it was completely insane didn't mean that Hammond didn't find a way to do it. The lawyer in question was rubbing his eyes in his office in Texas.

INGen was one of the most troublesome accounts that his firm had to deal with and the setting sun signaled the end of the day did not ease the lawyer's mind as he had several pages worth of reports on his desk. Safety reports were in stacks listed by time going back to the first time a cloned dinosaur had been moved to Isla Nublar and the sheer volume of papers leading from that time would have choked a horse. Constant problems from envenomation from the bites of compies and dilophosaurs to near blinding events from the spit in park workers faces, to lacerations and bites from the raptors, and the most expensive individual case of bites of the handlers from the tyrannosaurus.

"Excessive blood loss, necrosis of the bite wound, danger of needing amputation…" Donald rubbed his temples as he looked over the top listing issues of medical reports. That one bite had lead to a massive infection as the tyrannosaur's teeth were the perfect site for noxious bacteria to grow as predatory dinosaur teeth are lined with serrations and even if those chompers were cleaned regularly the bit would result in the perfect site for bacterial growth. And in the tropic climate of Isla Nublar that left any sort of bite or scratch with the potential to become septic. A seemingly minor but completely unexpected issue that none of the staff were prepared to handle and the antibiotics needed were mostly there for the animals and not staff or future guests.

"This is a major suite waiting to happen." Hammond had gotten Donald so enthused for the park and it's attractions that they had never bothered to study as actual animals before building the park. This was on top of the excessive cost of the park's care for the dinosaurs as there still was a very small survival rate for cloned embryos. Millions spend on research and trying to perfectly match the environment needed for the eggs to grow and millions more spent trying to keep the alive. Five years into development and the park had not yet earned a dime. What was odd, however, was that the stacks of injury reports had dropped to almost nil in under a month. There was an occasional animal injury, and the odd accident such as with all businesses. But there were almost no reports from the park in the past few months and this worried Donald and it had been a relief. Supposedly this was because of a new hire and completely restructuring the park…but he knew Hammond enough that this may have been blowing smoke in the firm's face to avoid litigation.

"And worst of all is that I can't find a single record of this new staff member before college records." This new animal hander had a college record from the 70s, a masters degree in 1975, and a doctorate from the University of Berkley from 1982 but her birth record were surprisingly missing and trying to find her social security number lead back to an individual with the same name issued one back in 1951 in Southern California along with a driver's license of the same date. Also there was no immigration papers or nationalization card. "So she wasn't a naturalized citizen then." Donald thought to himself. If she was naturalized then it would make sense why there were few records…but she still seemed to have the same address listed on that 1951 driver's license. 1313 Disneyland Dr. Anaheim California 92802.

"So she lives in Disneyland?" The thought made little to no sense as that was a work address and not likely a home address. Yes there were residences in the park, but she didn't have the background of an executive nor the education focused on business management but rather education and especially on ornithology with some other work in mammalogy and botany. Not exactly related biology fields, but extremely high grades all around but nothing with management or business. So why would someone with a specialty in biology live at Disneyland? The question wasn't asked so much because of a fixation on her, but rather Donald was a lawyer who was hired to represent the interest of the shareholders in INGen and while one headache with the higher safety record was impressive, he needed to do a complete background check on this seemingly young woman.

"Hammond you almost drive me to drunkenness." The nerve wrecked lawyer said pinching his nose.

This didn't make sense to Donald, but what really didn't make sense is that she somehow could physically talk with animals. "And how in the world do you talk with dinosaurs?"

Genarro shook his head and got himself a glass of water. This whole insane situation would have almost pushed him to drink. But he had a family to think about and a little girl who he adored and so just shook his head and got another drink of water. Carefully sorting through the files.

He decided to take another look at this Dr. Aurora Rose and see if there had been a mistake somewhere. Wrong middle name, wrong number on her social security information. She certainly didn't look like she was in her mid to late thirties, she looked more like she was twenty something at the latest, but something about her looks looked perhaps too good to be real. A pair of striking purple eyes that seemed to look deep into the person looking into them and fill them with happiness, curly golden blonde locks which shined like a freshly waxed car, excellent chin line and cheek bones made her face look youthful or at least someone who led an active life, her nose was "cute" with curved upward slightly at the end, and her lips were bright red like her last name. Not knowing better Donald Genarro would have thought this was a photo taken of some model's portfolio.

And yet this seemingly young woman was able to talk with birds and dinosaurs and helped bring down the park's accident record to a fraction of the original level.

"I'm calling Hammond first thing in the morning." Placing the pre-Aurora hiring files back into this desk and locking the drawer tight. He took count of the pages on the curious lady and made sure to file them away in his briefcase. "And then have to deal with Ian Malcolm and chaos theory again."

Having had enough Donald Genarro turned off the lights of his office and headed home. Cloned dinosaurs, crazy millionaires, crazy mathematical theories, and now a rather mysterious woman with the uncanny ability to control wildlife with song and vocalizations….if he didn't think he was in a nightmare before he figured he was on some sort of fever dream.

He headed to the garage towards his vehicle and pick up his family to head off to dinner. Hopefully this would get his mind off the rather impossible situation he found himself in now. With leather briefcase in hand and loads on his mind, he just wanted to go home for the night. His daughter's birthday was coming up and he wanted to get his mind off of that park in the middle of the ocean.

His little girl was still at that special age that magic seems all too real and all the minor details of adult meant nothing to her. Dropping his briefcase into the passenger's seat of his black sedan, Genarro shut the door and buckled up.

"Just focus on the party and everything will be fine." This thought was the primary focus on the mind of the INGen promoter as he arrived home.

"Daddy." The sound of a very young girl was the first thing that Genarro heard as he grabbed the briefcase and got out of this car in his driveway. His little girl barely could contain her happiness as he opened the door to his home.

"Hey there kiddo." Picking up his little girl in his arms and holding her tight, Genarro walked through the door to his family.

"What you got there daddy?" his little girl asked.

"Nothing to worry about dear." He said to his child. "So getting ready for your party?"

"Uh huh." He said. "Mom got all the decoration up and everything." The dining and living room were covered in strings and ribbons of various colors and a bunch of boxes. Various characters from Micky and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Donald Duck were printed on the ribbons. Disney may have been in trouble, but they still had a near strangle hold on kids and instant product recognition. This brought Genarro back to thoughts on the park as Hammond was going to be promoting Jurassic Park with the same level of product placement.

Genarro then placed his suit case down on the table and put his little girl on his knee.

"So what are you looking forward to the most for your birthday?" The thoughts of a child were a potential refuge from the tedious and unending headaches from work.

"Princesses movies." The little girl cheered as she threw her arms into the air and smiled. The Betamax system was the latest and greatest in video recording systems and the high-definition level of detail was far superior to the VHS system that was far more common in stores like K-Mart and the recently started Wal-Mart. The collection of classic 40s and 50s animated movies was a simple enough gift for his little girl.

"And what one do you want most of all?" Donald smiled at his little girl. "Is it Cinderella? Snow White?" To him they were all kind of the same, and meant just to be kids stories for little children.

"No daddy, Sleeping Beauty." The little girl giggled. She thought her daddy was so silly.

"That the one who has to have the guy save her from being put to sleep or something like that?"

"Uh huh." The little girl said as she grabbed one of the decorations from the table and showed off the character to her dad. It was an early readers version of the To the old man the character was just another pretty empty mass marketable toyetic bit of rival company stuff that was from years ago that was being released to make money. Nothing special to him. "But she is very sweet and she loves animals. In fact she talks with them…."

"She what?" This caught the borderline cynic by surprise.

"Yea she can talk with all sorts of animals and has three faries that raised her. And Phillip saves her because he has to stop the evil fairy who cursed Aurora to die."

The wheels in Donald's head started to turn as he took a look at the image of the girl in the child's book. The girl that was supposedly the main character of the story was a taller, lithe blonde with stunning purple eyes, red lips, and the same nose depicted in the company photograph in the case how at his home. Immediately Donald lifted his case up and flipped open the latches.

"Daddy, what's wrong?" The little girl asked as her father's immediate shift in manners confused her.

"It's okay sugar." He said pulling out the folder on this new Dr. Rose. "Daddy's just thinking."

With the book in one hand and the background information and employee photo in the other, Donald's eyes almost bulged out of his head as he started to see what he could not believe.

"Daddy who is that?" His little girl asked as she got a better look at what he dad was going over.

"No one honey, just someone working for one of daddy's clients." He tried to keep focused as he looked over the pages before him.

"Dr. Aurora Briar Rose, location California….talks with animals….Sleeping beauty birth name Aurora named Briar Rose by Flora, Fauna, and Merrryweather…."

As Donald continued to flip back and forth through the pages, he was coming to one impossible conclusion.

"Daddy what are you doing?" the girl at his leg asked as she took a look at the paper her father was seemingly obsessed with. The picture on the loose pages was of a real woman who looked almost identical to the illustrated image from the early read book. "Who is that? She's very pretty."

Donald put both papers down as he was caught completely in shock at the situation, it couldn't possibly be real what he was seeing. What the young woman just an obsessed fan? The living flesh and blood woman looked almost identical to the illustration, but the movie was decades old.

"But that doesn't make sense…." Donald said as she checked the back of the book for the copyright date.

"What's going on?" An older woman's voice sounded behind of Donald, his wife Elizabeth. "Oh are you trying to get a princess to show up for our little's birthday?"

His wife saw it, he saw it, but it made no sense.

"Oh she looks perfect for the role."

"Elizabeth she's not an actress, she's part of Hammond's staff and works as with animals." Donald held back the details of the park. "Exotic animals specifically."

"Well she looks exactly Sleeping Beauty." Elizabeth said

"Okay honey," Donald said collecting his thoughts. "I want you to tell daddy all about this princess and what she does."

"Donald what are you doing?" Elizabeth asked, completely confused as to her husband's actions.

"Oh yay, well for starters…" For hours Donald questioned his little girl about the young lady in the book, and all that his daughter knew about the story. Hammond was going to be hearing from Donald soon.

Meanwhile hundreds of miles away in California on board a descending 747, the very same lady that had been the lawyer's focus was now touching down at LAX. Her usual purple Jurassic Park outfit had been left for security reasons back on Isla Nublar. She also wasn't going to be going out in the twentieth century in clothing from the fourteenth century as she wanted to travel incognito from any fans. She still turned heads without wanting to, but who would guess she was more than a traveler returning home from vacation.

Pink sunglasses, sun dress, sandals, and various other obvious goofy looking vacationer stuff hid her true nature from everyone…though she still had to explain why someone who lived in a deep forest and a castle for most of her life wound up getting gorgeously tan all the time.

In her time such would be seen as a sign of lower status as only the lower levels of society would be out during the day and she would be confined to the responsibilities of nobility. In her case that meant managing the workers of the castle, having babies, raising kids, and making sure that the place was in good order for diplomatic visits. Now queen Leah handled just about all of that as Aurora was busy making money being seen around Disneyland, doing voice acting work, and generally being second fiddle to Snow White and Cinderella in popularity. But hey if Aurora was given the free time from her Disney responsibilities she had more time to work at Jurassic Park and her kingdom was kept safe and her people free to live their own lives then she was still doing her duty.

There was talk about a new princess movie coming out, but Aurora was way too busy with Jurassic Park to care much. Black Caldron had been a flop and Disney's only saving grace in animation was there new television cartoons with CBS. The princess loved animation, mainly as her film was an animated one given the usual Disney brushings of humanizing animals. This saved Disney a huge amount of money with it's films as the animators could copy the movements of people in line-art form and then draw in the details later.

Over the course of the flight though, she had read a few letters from home. Her parents about how proud they were of her, her beloved Phillip about how he missed her but how happy he was that she was doing so well…and a few more private things that made her giggle, even her father-in-law beamed with pride in his messages to her and how his new "rat catchers" were the best thing since her film brought electricity to the kingdom. Still she was their princess and had to come back and check up on her family and friends. Quickly rummaging through the letters again, she found one from her husband that she had overlooked. With the whole park being in her hands that was understandable, and she would catch up when together. She opened it and began to read.

"Dear Rose,

I still miss you greatly, but know you'll be home soon. The dinosaurs are doing great, but Samson is beginning to become incensed that the raptor you have me help train is able to out perform him in speed, endurance, and jumping ability. I joked that if I was riding a full grown one the I probably wouldn't have gotten knocked into the stream. He didn't take well to that. Anyway having a bit of trouble with the dilophosaur youngster when trying to help her learn to control her spitting. No attacks so far, but trying to have her trained as a personal guard and surprise sniper bodyguard for you may be more challenging than I had though. Thank you again for safety glasses.

On a separate note I have found more work lately with Disney as part of their new Adventures of the Gummi Bears show. I think you will love the cast and acting as a stunt coordinator has helped me keep in shape for dealing with the more, rambunctious shall we say of the new animals you are studying.

The Paige Cavin has a lot of heart to him and I love being able to teach Cubbi the finer bits of actually using a sword. A wooden one so don't worry about him hurting himself. But I really want you to meet Princess Calla. If you can imagine Eilonwy from Black Caldron, but with a braid and a huge influence from one of those action cartoons that everyone is watching then you have a good idea about her. She is smart and sassy at times and fun loving. An equal match to your wit and loves animals. I look forward to seeing you when you get back and sorry I won't be at the airport to meet you.

Love,

Phillip.

P.S. The raptor has decided that she wanted to stretch her legs today and so ran down the road at 60 miles an hour. We had an issue with a highwayman the royal guards going to deal with, now we have a body. When Maldoon said they were lethal at eight months he was not kidding."

This last bit…well at least this time the roads were more cleaned. It did trouble Aurora though, was this ill fated man killed an eaten, or merely killed. If raptors great to like the taste of human flesh then things would get very difficult very quick. A certain crocodile was evidence enough of that problem, but if the raptor only killed the ruffian then it would be no different than if a guard dog did the same. Brutal but pack order was maintained.

"Well they are predators afterall…." Aurora sighed as the plane made it's way to the docking port. The ease at transportation was remarkable to the princess as when she first was contacted by the modern world they were still using prop planes left over from the second World War as passenger transports. It was a shocking time going from what many considered the Dark Ages to the world of 1951, but for all that fear there was also wonder and Aurora had to admit that her quasi immortal state bound to the story written about her and her family was a blessing and somewhat a curse. So when offered a chance to have some level of control over her own life instead of the repeating cycle the story caught her in, her whole family jumped at the offer of one Walt Disney. Now she was heading home with the worries of what would happen if Disney failed far out of her mind. Two weeks of rest and relaxation, relatively speaking.

"All passengers please collect your belongings and leave in a safe and orderly manner." The announcer said over the intercom. Aurora just smiled as she grabbed her small bag and headed out of the aircraft. No need for large amounts of luggage when all your clothing is already at your destination, and as the park wasn't going public for a few years none of the merchandise was brought off island.

"Now who was going to be picking me up this time?" Aurora asked looking around for any sort of driver or chauffeur. The castle coachman was out of the question as he didn't know how to drive a car, and neither her father or mother knew, and Phillip said he wasn't picking her up. "Well guess I better start looking for anything with a Disney park label." As the royal in disguise made her way to the luggage terminal for her flight, she tried to find a place to sit down and wait till someone found her.

Thankfully she didn't have to wait long till someone noticed her. A friendly tap on the shoulder grabbed her attention.

"Hey there." A strawberry blonde with blue eyes said as she smiled at Aurora.

"Cinder…"

"SHuh…" The other princess put her fingers to her lips. "You want to blow my cover?"

"Sorry, but what brings you here?" Aurora smiled at her more senior friend. "I thought you were busy in Orlando?"

"And you should be busy here in California." The older of the two said as she guided Aurora to where the limo was. "So tell me, where are you going off to all the time? I hardly hear a peep out of you in what seems like forever and now you are going on vacations without Phillip?" The level of worry in Cinderella's voice was almost palatable. She was always the big sister of the three but why would Aurora being by herself worry Cinderella?

"You aren't having an affair, are you? I know that money is getting tight but…"

Aurora giggled as she and Cinderella climbed into the long white Cadillac. The driver was cut off from them by sound proof glass and neither Aurora nor Cinderella could see him or him them. It was a security policy to prevent the fact that Disney characters were real people get out as if you don't know who you are driving then what are you going to tell anyone?

"An affair? Really do I seem like someone that would cheat on my husband?"

"Well what is it then?" Cinderella said as she worried deeply for her friend.

"Well…." Aurora wanted to talk about the park, really she did, but she was professionally and legally prevented as deeply as if she knew of an addition to a Disney Park or a new film. Plus how could she tell Cinderella that there were living dinosaurs in the hidden kingdom in Disneyland. Still she couldn't lie to her friend. "It's kind of…very complicated."

Cinderella shot her a stare along the lines of "you kidding me?"

"Well, how much have you followed what I have been up to?" Aurora asked her friend putting a finger to her chin and propped her legs on the seats opposite her seating position and kicking off her sandals. Aurora loved being barefoot when possible and tested the feel of leather with her toes. Cinderella just shook her head at her friend's antics.

"Not a whole lot. Been busy too sadly trying to keep my own finances afloat since things haven't been going so well…Charming tries but honestly the guy doesn't have much beyond trying to be a dance teacher when doesn't pay that much. Thankfully the Grand Duke is very good at finances."

"Sadly that is true everywhere. Well I decided to go back to school…and I got a doctorate." Aurora said this with calmly, more focused on testing the seats with her feet and letting her legs stretch after being on an aircraft for hours.

Cinderella was awestruck. Her friend for years who was known simply as that pretty one with the great voice earned a doctorate?

"You are a doctor?" Cinderella blinking a few times. "You got yourself a PhD?"

"Correction, I earned a PhD. In ornithology, which is why I keep leaving every few weeks. I keep having to go out and do research for my other job and that takes me out of town a lot." It wasn't a lie, or at least a complete one. Maybe by omission, but no one said that Aurora had to talk about the dinosaurs.

"I'm so happy for you." Cinderella hugged her friend and was glowing with joy. This caused Aurora to sit up and blush a bit. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well no one asked, and I was very busy earning the degree." Aurora said as she yawned a bit. "Sorry long flight."

"Well that is great." Cinderella said as the hours of traffic continued. Popping open a soda, she continued. "So hear about the new girls we have joining our club?"

"Philip told me about Calla, I take it you've met her?"

"Oh I have, and you will love her but her she is very unlike either of us. But there is a new princess they are adding to the cast that they hope will bring about a new golden age." Cinderella said continuing her drink.

Aurora decided to get a drink too and continued to listen. "Her name is Ariel, and she's a mermaid."

"A mermaid? As in Peter's friends who tried to drown Wendy?" Aurora was in shock. Those girls were little monsters and completely unsuitable as a heroine character.

"Well yes, and no. She's not from Neverland and is from the world of Hans Christian Anderson."

"Going to get the Disney treatment of course." Aurora pointed out.

"Of course." Cinderella said knowing very well how both her and Aurora's tales were very different from book and the movie. In her own story there was forced amputation, and no fairy godmothers, and Aurora's involved rape and cannibalism in the original tale. Thankfully that wasn't the world either one of these princesses were from but still anyone familiar with the original story of Little Mermaid knew about the whole no souls bit and turning to sea foam. With all other Disney stories this new film was getting the kid friendly wash.

"So tell me about her."

"She's inquisitive, but very impulsive." Cinderella said. "About your age from the film, but loves to learn. Ever thought of being a teacher?"

"Oh I was planning on it, but things came up." Aurora joked at her friend. "But should be fun to have another princess to talk to, and of course a new prince, new additions to the park, and new toys…."

"Well enough business." Cinderella said as she finished the can. "So where have you been studying birds? Some tropical island in the middle of nowhere enjoying the beaches and taking in the sun while sipping on mixed drinks from coconut shells?"

"Sounds great." Aurora joked back. "Mention that to me again when I'm on my third cup of coffee and detailing tiny little green creatures while covered in mud and having to publish updated results on animal health and diversity on a constant basis."

"You really have thrown yourself into this haven't you?" Cinderella smiled.

"Just because I'm famous for being asleep for most of my film doesn't mean I'm lazy." Aurora joked back. "So tell me how have you an Charming been doing with the whole 'I want grandkids' rants from your father-in-law?"

"Lots of fun, lots of trying, Disney won't let us acknowledge a single kid we may have. Remember Walt hated sequels." The two friends continued to gab while the limo drove into the parking area of the Disneyland theme park, the hidden employee section of the park. Easily done as Walt had demanded a series of subterranean pathways connecting each part of the Disneyland and later Disneyworld park after one cowboy showed up in Tomorrowland.

"So same system as the one in Disneyworld?" Cinderella asked as she took the lead to the back way into the castle. This caught Aurora completely by surprise, and it showed. Not that she wouldn't have loved to spend time with her friend, but her visiting the castle at this time was going to throw everything into jeopardy. Her research, her position, the dangers of having live dinosaurs outside of the park…but not telling her may have been rude to one of her oldest and most trusted friends…could she trust her?

"Okay Cinderella, before you come in there are a few things we need to go over that are extremely important." Aurora said going instantly to as much of a serious face as she could. "And no one, and I mean no one can know about."

"What are you talking about Aurora?" Cinderella blinked at her friend. The continuous happy face she had seen on the medieval maiden was completely gone and replaced by the sternest face she had seen on a woman since her stepmother.

Aurora looked around for a moment before grabbing Cinderella's arm and almost dragged her into the nearest woman's bathroom. Next she looked around to make sure they were completely alone and locked the door.

"Now you are scaring me." Her voice trembled a bit as this was completely unlike her friend. What was going on, could it be drugs? Everyone knew that the US was now deep into the war on drugs and with the dangers of complete financial ruin the temptation would have been almost impossible to resist to some, but Rose just said she had a job and an advanced degree that she bragged about earning. That wouldn't make much sense. Was it some other illegal trade or contraband…or was it she didn't want something less…regal to become public knowledge and get her and her family into a salacious scandal. VHS rental outlets and movie rental places did have backrooms and needing to put food on your table sometimes may make you do things you didn't want to do. But she had a kingdom full of farmers and such that would sustain them for a while even without the trade from the modern world. What was this?

"Cinderella promise me right now, that you will not under any circumstances talk about what you may see, hear, or otherwise find out when you visit my home."

"Okay Rose you are really scaring me, please if you are in trouble I want to help…."

"Look, whatever you may be thinking this is about you are wrong." Aurora held her hands up to stop her friend. "I know that this seems bad, but what you are going to be seeing will be beyond even that Star Wars film, but no one can know of this. Not Charming, not Snow, not your king, no one can learn what I am going to show you. If you don't promise me this right now, I can't let you come in."

To say that the strawberry blonde was in shock would be an understatement. Rose never was this serious since she tried to hold her head high with dignity to her royal duty finding out about her arranged marriage, and that was a passive sense of honor. Never was she this actively strident with anyone. This worried her friend.

"Okay, before I promise you anything I have a few questions. One: this isn't drugs or anything illegal right?"

"No it is not drugs, not weapons sales, not black market, not anything illegal or immoral."

"Okay good. This isn't something….kinky I have worry about causing a scandal right?"

"No nothing scandalous either." Aurora honestly replied.

"Okay, and you and your family are okay right? The black death isn't running through your lands or anything right?"

And that was the most worrying bit. Hopping between realms always had a risk of exposure to pathogens either virus or bacteria that could cause a plague either into the modern world, or the one the princesses called home. Inexpensive anti-biotics and vaccines kept that thankfully in check. They may be from a world similar to the past of the worlds they ran the parks of, but that didn't mean they were from the same dimension.

"Thankfully no. Nor any other plague."

"Okay…so if I promise to not tell anyone, I get to visit your kingdom…but no one can know about what I see there?"

"For now, yes. But I promise you eventually they will know about it. It may take years, but they will be told. I just can't risk it. So pinky promise me?"

Sometimes Aurora could be childish in her mannerism just as she could be mature and dignified. Cinderella smiled at her friend's offer.

"Okay, Pinky promise." She followed with the silly looking ritual, but she was going to keep her word to her friend Rose come hell or high water.

"Good. Now follow me." Aurora unlocked the door and nearly pulled Cinderella's arm out of it's socket as she went through the vast network of underground pathways leading to the Disneyland castle. A locked door marked "authorized personnel only" opened as a pixy dust covered key from Aurora's pocket undid the lock and the two women entered. Aurora made dang sure the lock was reset and the two found themselves inside the Castle. Not the one in California, but on in Europe of the fourteenth century.

While very similar to the one built in California, the real castle was a vast fortress housing hundreds of people. Formed from cut stone grey in color the castle was a vast almost on the order of oversized. Spires hundreds of feet tall encased in walls so tall that a brachiosaur could look into the window of the guard tower and stare the guard in the face without having to stand on it's back legs. The gatehouse was also so wide that it was almost a castle in its own right and all of this was situated partially on a hill top with the sloping valley on the other side. Rolling green hills with scattered trees spanned for miles with the occasional vast tracks of plowed earth of farmland to feed the great number of the kingdom. The woods were Aurora grew up just barely visible on the edge of the horizon and connected by only one cobbled road constructed in the same way as a Roman Imperial road with a few bridges made the whole realm look majestic. If it were not for the additions of modern heating and electrical lighting, it would be truly walking back in time.

This was Aurora's home realm and the cooler atmosphere made Aurora relax a bit. Very different from the tropical weather of Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna. No street lights, no cars, no background music save for the calling of birds in the distance or the odd mistral on his lute or a piper on his flute. Aurora relaxed a bit now that she was back and made her way as carefully as possible as she didn't want to accidently attract the attention of her special "pets" before she got a moment to explain the situation to Cinderella.

"Okay Cinderella remember your word." Aurora said to her friend as she palmed the key back into her pocket having forgotten that it was still in her hand for a bit.

"I know, and I will keep my word." Cinderella said as she followed her friend into her home. Both were stopped by a jovial and familiar face.

"Oh daughter welcome home." King Stefan said as he lifted Aurora up into his arms. "We missed you so much. I am sorry none of us could pick you up, but Cinderella was more than happy to help."

"Your majesty." The other princess bowed graciously to her host. "It was a privilege. Sorry I have been too busy to write or visit, so it was the least I could do."

"Oh come now. Formalities are for later. Everyone is waiting to see you and…oh does she know about…" Stefan asked putting his daughter back onto her feet.

"Dad she will be told, but I didn't mention a thing till she got here."

"And you promised to not tell a soul?" Stefan asked his daughter's friend.

"Pinky promise." Cinderella said holding up her hand with her pinky out. An odd custom to all, but honor was huge in this time and that meant a lot to Stefan.

"Very well. Phillip has been trying something new with that crested one you brought in…the one who spits…he thinks he can get it trained to be a guard and attack on command…I'm not sure how wise it is but so far thankfully no one has gone blind." Stefan lead the girls to what looked like a medium sized hall, one without furniture or many decorations.

"Spitting, going blind….what is this secret Rose?" Cinderella asked as she passed the door way and saw Queen Leah standing at the far side of the wall with King Hubert watching Phillip holding a shield with several black splotches on it in his left hand. He carried no sword nor was decked in armor and standing before him was a ten foot long green splotchy covered lizard like thing on two legs that had a pair of crests on its head and rose of sharp teeth in its mouth. The creature was following Phillip's footsteps and kept focused on the prince's eyes as the two moved back and forth in the room.

The animal in question jumped from side to side with unexpected speed and coordination. The tail was held high off the ground and moved back and forth as the creature made hissing and whooting noises as it focused on the man with the shield. The creature kept between five and seven feet between itself and Phillip. It didn't seem to want to run or was agitated by the prince before it. It just kept focused on him and made a few feint attacks trying to move Phillip from side to side while testing his reflexes. The speed of those moves shocked Cinderella as she expected it to be slow and ponderous like a lizard, but no this odd beast was strikingly fast and seemed as if able to dart into range only to back up faster than an arrow bolt. And oddest of all, Phillip seemed as if he was having fun during the whole thing.

"Good good, don't get too focused on the shield you'll waste your shots that way." The exceedingly confident prince was getting a bit cocky as he seemed to be teaching this thing how to out maneuver someone using a shield. Was this some sort of medieval adaptation of cock-fighting by with lizard monsters dragon things?

Now there was the old sport of bear baiting that was common in Europe, but that wasn't the style of any Disney type of royal and the creature had no wounds on it. On top of that it sounded like Phillip was giving words of encouragement to the thing before him that would claw at the prince. This was certainly odd to Cinderella to say the very least.

"Okay remember aim for the eyes." The voice was somewhat muffled as a clear plastic mask covered Phillip's face. A few splats of the same black inky substance were over where his mouth was guarded.

What was that thing and a why was it…hooting at Phillip?

Instantly the creature snapped its head up and back faster than Cinderella could blink. In less time that she could think another black blob splatted across Phillip's form hitting the facemask.

"Good girl Jessica, your aim is spot on." The animal….Jessica hooted happily as it did so and Phillip kept moving around the room. Cinderella wasn't even sure that he noticed three more people now in the hall. And did Cinderella see yellow splotches open up on that things neck. Was Aurora breeding dragons or something.

"I guess it's best to tell you now what you are seeing. Jessica is actually one of a number of sub-adult creatures I've been training and raising for the past few years on an island in the middle of the Pacific. An island soon to be a very specialized biological attraction and no one can know about her, her friends, or the park until everything is ready to open."

"Biological attractions? You mean you are breeding dragons? After what Malifecent did to you and your family?" Cinderella was in shock. What crazy idea had her friend joined in and as this thing going to spit at her as well?

"Not dragons Cinderella, not dragons at all." Aurora smiled at her friend. "Jessica is a dinosaur. A living breathing Jurassic age theropod known as a dilophosaurus. When full grown she'll be about twenty feet in length and about seven feet all at the shoulder. My job is to train them, help handlers care for them, and prevent the potential harm to park staff and animals by keeping both happy while understanding their developments. She is almost identical genetically to an animal that lived in the early Jurassic Period in North America, and she's one of many dinosaurs I care for here and at the park. I brought her here to study and see how to best adapt my skills to help those who can't talk with them train them. Phillip has been keeping me updated on what training works and doesn't."

"You can talk with her?" Cinderella was in shock. She herself could "talk" with the mice and birds of her home, but nothing like what Aurora could do thanks to Fauna.

"Of course." Aurora smiled. "Dinosaurs are biological organisms and very much like birds. Even social animals."

Aurora whooted at Jessica, who stopped her focus on Phillip and turned to see the human she loved most. The dinosaur instantly jumped the distance across the hall and started to signal her happiness at the return of her primary caretaker.

"Why aren't you a smart girl?" Aurora said running her hand across the dinosaur's neck. Jessica sat down as if a puppy being petted.

"Hey dear. Hope your trip went well." Phillip said, somewhat covered in black poison and in serious need of a deep hose down.

"It was thank you. I'd hug you but…."

"But you'd have to go to the emergency room, no problem. I'll go get hosed down again and we can talk later. So what do you think of our new family guard animal Cinderella?"

Cinderella didn't know what to think. This was a dinosaur? It was fast, spat poison, and was seemingly very smart…knowing its name smart….and covered in ornate colorful scales and some sort of feathery filaments. I mean she had seen Fantasia, but that big Tyrannosaur looked nothing like this agile hunter with almost delicate movements and razor-sharp claws. And its tail was held upright unlike anything she had seen. Rose said they were closely related to birds but none of her friends looked remotely like this animal.

"It…how did you get a dinosaur into the fourteenth century?"

"I wish I could tell you, but I can't." Aurora sadly told her friend. "It's not magic, white or black, but this is part of our secret. And these animals' safety requires on no one telling anyone they are here, no one at the park, or your kingdom, or the outside world can learn of this until the right time."

"Well she seems very well mannered." Cinderella said as she kept her distance from the carnivore sitting before her. "Do you have more of these running around, or…"

"There are about five or so dinosaurs here, and many many more at the park. Not all are carnivorous, but all are very real. I would love to show you each and every one of them if…." Before Aurora could finish a bolt of red tiger stripped fury raced into the room, jumped over Phillip's head, and landed four feet from the purple eyed girl. It was another four-foot-tall creature with piercing eyes and sets of razor sharp claws on it's hands and feet. The mouth was narrow and ended at a point with backwards curved finely serrated teeth, but what caught Cinderella most off guard was the curved claws held off the ground as the animal balanced on two twos per foot. The claw occasionally tapped the ground as the animal stared right at both the young girls like a hawk. Focusing more on Aurora, but occasionally looking at Cinderella, the animal had thought behind it's eyes and you could see somehow deep within it was thinking.

The movements were very bird-like and unsettled the older of the princesses at how fast and agile it was.

"Dianna no scaring our guests." Aurora chided the creature like you would a disobedient dog or cat. "Now come here if you really want to show off."

The creature walked towards Aurora releasing a series of calls that were very much like a eagle's cry or a nasal "yum" this changed to happy chirping as Aurora rubbed under the animal's jaw.

"Another dinosaur?" Cinderella said in awe as fear turned towards amazement. That thing jumped higher and ran faster than any human and moved with the agility of a dancer. That claw looked like it could have slashed open any of them before help could arrive, and yet her friend had perfect control of them.

"Yep. A raptor, and a born diva." Aurora said to her friend. "Always wants mommy's attention."

"Well as long as it keeps the rat population in check, she should be rewarded." Hubart joked as his laughs made his belly jiggle a bit.

"So what do you think Cinderella?" Aurora said as she stood up and looked at her friend.

"I think this is a bit crazy." She honestly said. "But with fairies, magical kingdoms, turning mice into horses and pumpkins into carriages what isn't around here. So I have to ask, do you have a T. Rex?"

This caused Aurora to laugh. "Not here, but we have one sub-adult and one hatchling at the park. Rexy is such a sweet girl, but you can imagine how hard it would be to contain a 42-foot-long seven-ton carnivore."

"Fair enough." Cinderella said as her concern turned to fascination as the two carnivores started to squabble a bit between each other. It was quickly stopped by Aurora who kept the two from biting each other. "So tell me why do you keep saying she? Is it because of preference or…"

"Supposedly they are all born female, and they attempt to sterilize them so they don't breed on the island." Aurora explained.

"I'm sensing something is troubling you child." Stefan said as he placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Is everything alright?"

Aurora thought for a moment. Those shell fragments concerned her, and she still had her journal marking the strange changes in the adult dilophosaurs on the island as well as those numerous compies. This worry caught everyone's attention in the room, and Aurora pulled out some of the fragments she has stuffed into her bag.

"No, honestly it isn't."

"Eggshells?" Cinderella looked at what was in Aurora's hand. They were very different in shape from any bird she had ever seen, but they were thin, looked somewhat hard, and were broken as if stepped on.

"That is what I am afraid of, but I wanted to be sure. And sadly the only one who I know willing to listen and confirm this is here….do any of you know how to contact Fauna?"

Stefan stroked his beard at this, and Leah was completely lost on the answer to that question. Fairies after all were an enigmatic sort and while they maintained good relations with the magical world, it wasn't as if the three who raised Aurora had a listed phone number and phones were one technology completely absent from the castle. Heck Cinderella's own experience with "her fairy godmother" was more of a karma thing as she encountered that magical being only once and that was at her own mother's gravesite after being assaulted by her stepsisters.

"That I sadly can not help with. They appear as they are needed, and even then they have responsibilities they keep to…" Stefan said sagely. "From the flowers, to the animals, to…"

"That's it." Cinderella said snapping her fingers. "Animals…."

Everyone was confused by that realization. "Aurora you said you had brought a few of these dinosaurs to your land right?"

Aurora nodded.

"Well, what if you took them into the woods where you grew up and talk with all the animal friends who may be there. Maybe they know where to find Fauna, or at the very least the fact you have pet dinosaurs in her forest will grab her attention."

It was crazy, but just crazy enough to possibly work. And if Fauna's gift was able to help Aurora deal with dinosaurs already then there was no reason that she wouldn't take notice. Still that would wait for the morning. Aurora still had to check up on the other dinosaurs she had running around the castle, ask about the man who Diana had killed, and catch up on family. First thing in the morning though she was going to find Fauna again, and then call a certain Dr. Alan Grant in Montana for help on the park.

"So before we get too melodramatic, do you have a stegosaurus?" Cinderella asked as she observed the two theropods nipping at one another while Leah tossed bits of meat to them.

"Cinderella let me introduce you to Betsy." Aurora smiled as Cinderella's smile went wide in glee. And it was this joy and wonder that came from seeing dinosaurs. Aurora knew that feeling very well and to give her friend a chance to have that feeling when both princesses had given that feeling to so many young children in their parks. Aurora took her friend by the arm and headed towards the stables.

Author's comments:

I hope that you all enjoy this update and hope that my watchers will enjoy this new story as much as my other works. Please be kind enough to review and hope to have another update soon on my other story as well as this one.


	4. Chapter 4

Jurassic Park what if chapter 4

Jurassic Park belongs to the estate of Michael Crichton and Universal Studios Disney stuff is Disney's stuff

I am making this for fun, no money is being made, please don't sue

Montana Morning

The Montana badlands are a vast dry expanse of layered sandstones in filled with flood plains were the dry air would turn the dry earth into an oven by mid-day and the occasional sands would whip up into a frenzy of biting clouds of sharp quartz grains. The very air sucked the moisture from you as it was so dry that you could drop dead from dehydration before you even knew that you needed a drink. And the nights, the nights drop from the up to ninety degree days to a near bone chilling forty degrees as no large bodies of water helped to stabilize the temperature. Some of these harsh lands had been the home of native peoples who migrated regularly following the roaming herds of bison that occupied the vast open prairies now used as cattle ranches, but such herds wouldn't be found in the dry mix of dust and sand carved by ice, water, wind, and filled with scattered trees and grasses that were vital in keeping the few bits of soil rich enough to grow in held together. The natives had a word for this land, Makoshika which translates literally to "bad land".

Life did find a way to survive here though, as eagles and hawks soared the skies, the occasional mule-eared deer, elk, and coyote could be seen wandering around for whatever sustenance the earth could give, and even more familiar shapes moved about in the dusty dry seeming wasteland. The current human population seemed to be carrying on the tradition of hunting and gathering from old, but it was not bison or elk these humans were after. No these modern people, decked out in hats, jeans, boots, and gloves and a few with bandanas used to clear the salt from their faces and the dust from the earth hunted a far different prey from when this part of the world was much different. A far wetter world with marshes, cycads, gynco trees and pines taller than buildings with meandering river deltas where herds of large herbivores grazed not on grasses but on ferns and trees. A world where the dominant predatory lifeforms were all covered in some sort of feathers and walked on two legs, a world where the now dry gulches were home to crocodilians the size of modern alligators and the air swarmed in countless insects while the waters teamed with fish covered in hard scales. This was the world of the Mesozoic, specifically the Late Cretaceous, that Dr. Alan Grant had spent his life exploring.

The tents which filled the work area were the only sign of civilization for miles as the undeveloped territory was a mix of government land, state property, privately held territory, and lands that belonged in trust of various Native American tribes. This confusing mess over land that most people wouldn't think of as valuable was still flying somewhat under the radar as Grant and his students carefully excavated the delicate fossils from the earth. The team was careful to not completely remove the sediment from the hardened former bone of their latest find and risk damaging the delicate material kept safe for millions of years under the earth. It is only back at the lab after the specimens would be fully extracted from the sand and mud that mineralized the bone into rock.

It was thankfully a good year this year as Grant and his students were busy examining a new specimen exposed to the surface from last years rain and snows.

"Well Alan what do you think?" Dr. Ellie Sattler said as Grant cleared the sweat from his brow and took a look over the bone bits sticking out of the rock.

Dr. Ellie Sattler was the resident paleobotonist and an expert in building the accurate depiction of the world in which these mighty animals once flourished. A world where plants and animals lived, competed, evolved, and died in the continuing cycle of life that has been going on ever since the first cell started to exist.

"Well we have at least most of another raptor, probably a deinonychus, and what looks like part of a tenontosaur." Grant said carefully using a brush to remove the clods of dirt he could from around the specimen.

The bodies that both scientists were looking over were twisted and bent in seeming unnatural angles with the neck of the larger animal curved all the way back so the head was against the spine. The smaller one was in far worse shape as the bones were broken in bits as if somehow stepped on. These were not the works of some careless trekker or rancher stepping on them, nor the contorted neck a sign of excruciating death. Rather these were the pictures of an ancient battle where one animal was killed with its ribs bashed in from some powerful blow while the natural processes of decay as the tissues rotted and left twisted versions of what the dinosaurs would have been in life. Still buried under the encasing sediment, the full extent of the find was unknown. That would be left for lab work later.

"Probably a pack of deinonychus from what I am seeing with all these teeth." Running her fingers across the ground, Dr. Sattler could feel the tiny rises and edges marking dozens of crowns of teeth scattered around the more complete fossils. Like crocodiles, dinosaurs replaced their teeth regularly as the edges wore out and fresh teeth moved into place keeping their mouth full or sharp edged blades and clipping surfaces. However, the sheer number and sizes of teeth meant likely more than theropod had lost teeth in this fight.

"A few chipped, maybe busted out of the mouth upon impact…" Grant agreed with his college as they continued to carefully try to figure out the outer boundaries of the skeletons, meticulously taking notes on specimen numbers and illustrating the surrounding area.

"Looks like it may have been a serious fight." Grant said as he picked up one of the teeth and felt the edges. "These edges are still sharp, not likely fallen out during feeding." It was then that one of the younger members of the crew started calling out at the top of his voice.

"Dr. GRANT!" The young student yelled from the camp, the sound of a running old model pickup following soon after as Grant's focus was broken. "Dr. Grant you got a call from town."

The eagerness of the student was countered by Grant's frustration and Sandler's bemusement. "Well it is at least some news from the wider world."

"Just so long as it isn't another credit card application." Grant joked as he stood up at the approaching young man. "Now what's got you so excited?" Grant ask as before him stood a skinny undergraduate caked in the dust of the field kicking up a trail of said sediment as he was running to the excavation grounds.

"Dr. Grant got a call for you in town."

"So I heard. What about?" The head of the dig asked as he got up from his sprawled position and dusted his hands.

"Got a call from the university." The student said with a tattered bit of paper in his hand. "Seems someone from California is trying to get a hold of you."

"And just who would I know in California?" Dr. Grant said shaking the dust from his hands and took the paper from the student's hands. Grant blinked as he tried to make out the chicken scratch on the page.

"A Doctor Rose, they said she was part of Hammond's company." Dr. Grant took a moment to think about that. Hammond had privately helped to fund Grant's work on top of dumping tens of thousands of dollars into the university which Grant worked with. This was how he was able to keep the work going, and without those donations there would be no sample collecting and no students to do the hard work needed so that journal articles could be published or degrees earned. And without publications and continued research the museums wouldn't be able to promote themselves. Thus Grant took a special interest in this note.

"Anything specific they wanted to talk about?" Grant asked as he took a look to see if any messages were scratched to go with the number.

"Nothing the owner of the general store said to me." The younger man said to the doctor. "All I got was that there was a call for you from this person at that number."

"Thanks." Grant said looking over the note. The drive to town would be at least an hour from the digsite and he had more work to do today if he was going to get his fossils protected from the elements. Probably go in very early tomorrow to see what this was all about. In a time before cellphones and cellphone towers were everywhere, and the vast wilderness of Montana was almost a forgotten footnote in the country only known for a few underdeveloped ski resorts and the occasional hunting trip while multi-millionaires and billionaires build huge homes in the idealic valleys. Still there was a lot to be said for the natural beauty of the badlands and almost nothing compared to the joy of finding a new discovery from a world that was buried for millions of years. With satellite phones still far too expensive for the lowly funded field of paleontology, Grant was going to have to get up extra early tomorrow to drive into town.

"So any idea what this may be about Alan?" Dr. Stabler asked the head of the dig as she looked the note over.

"Not a clue. Probably something related to Hammond's work." Grant said as he pocketed the note in his jeans. He dusted off his hands and grabbed another beer while getting back to work. The short field season was dwindling away and he knew that even with all the help from volunteers that it would take a lot of hours to try and excavate the new specimens and then the cost of transporting the find to the museum back at the university would be huge. Depending on the weight it may even have to be helicoptered out with a Blackhawk and the US Army Corps of Engineers didn't work cheap on the US Taxpayer's dime. Even the Army Reserve would help but they did have to pay for jet fuel. If the fossils were going to be trucked out on a semi that may cost less, but that would still be a lot of work to try and get the rock-incased skeletons out from the outcrop to where a semi would be able to pull up to. As such Grant was equal parts researcher and salesman as he dealt with some of the stipulations that Hammond attached to the tens of thousands he donated to Dr. Grant's research.

"Of course it is, but why would a woman who's research is mainly ornithology want with a bunch of dinosaur nuts, especially if she is Hammond's payroll." Dr. Sandler had a point in this, though honestly it was one she knew everyone was thinking. Sometimes you needed to just say the obvious to get everyone on the same page.

"I'll ask when I find out myself. Any idea who this Dr. Rose is anyway? You said she was an ornithologist?"

"If she's the same Dr. Rose who published on the language of birds and detailing the precise frequencies and patterns as a form of language where she was able to talk to not only domestic birds but wild ones then she is the foremost expert on animal/human communication."

"I thought she sounded familiar." Dr. Grant stroked his chin as he thought about what that meant. "And dinosaurs, as we know, are very much related to birds having light skeletons, digitigrade limbs, hollow bones with air-passages throughout, and likely complex social behavior in both predators and prey. We can even see the number of teeth these deinonychus shed had to mean more than one was attacking at a time. There are also fossilized track-ways such as in Texas with herds of sauropods migrating together. Dr. Horner found that nest site at Egg Mountain that appears to be much like flamingo nestsites with repeat nesting of multiple females together. And let us not forget the wide array of crests in hadrosaurs like parasaurolophus and corythosaurus which act as resonance chambers like the expanding throats of frigate birds or the throat organs of honking geese. Dinosaurs are very much like birds so may not be too much of a stretch this Dr. Rose would want to discuss something related to our field. Afterall birds are in reality dinosaurs."

"So we should expect that maniraptorians would be covered in feathers?" Dr. Sattler joked as she took a moment to hydrate herself.

"That isn't that far-fetched as you may think. Remember that archaeopteryx is very much a maniraptorian and even as far back as the Jurassic the complex structures of feathers had evolved to a point that archaeopteryx had what many believe were truly allow for flight. As the dinosaurs before us lived in the middle Cretaceous, is it so hard to theorize that they too would have had some sort of feather covering?" Dr. Grant continued. "But till I actually talk with her tomorrow I have no idea what she would be interested in." Grant had enough of the hypothesizing on the subject of humans for a while and decided to get back to working on the delicate bones before him. The chance for an almost complete find would be a treasure far more than it's weight in gold to understanding the prehistoric world and that was a far more important aspect to deal with than what someone might want to talk about tomorrow.

The person who was looking forward to that call was currently working hard herself. The very early morning sun was rising, and Aurora had already gotten up to greet it. Throwing over her simple cloak and heading towards the gate, she was abruptly stopped by a tap on the shoulder.

"Heading out dear?" Philip said a Aurora spun on her toes and almost slammed into her spouse's chest.

"Philip?" Aurora said curious as to what he was doing.

"Thought I would wish you luck before you went looking for the Fauna." He smiled at her and hugged her. "And see if you needed a ride to the forest."

"Thank you dear." The princess smiled as she held him close. "But last time you tried to show up at my old home you got chained up and carted off to a prison in Malifecent's castle." Aurora smirked as she patted Philip's cheek.

"I'm sure that there aren't any more goblins and I wouldn't go without a weapon." Philip pointed out. "Besides Samson has been begging to get out and stretch his legs." Philip's faithful steed probably was pacing in the his stable and he was still just as much of the family as Aurora's new pets..

"Okay I'll relent, but you have to follow my lead." Aurora smiled as she put on her slippers and headed to the stables. The feeling of grass under her feet she loved, stepping in manure from one of the many horses the family used was not pleasant at all. "I don't want Flora to think we are on a date and run off to give us alone time."

"I had not thought about that." Philip said nodding his head.

"Fairies are…odd at times my love." Aurora smiled as she started chirping and hooting, but not like a songbird or owl. Instantly two familiar scaly forms raced down the hall and stopped right front of Aurora lowering their heads.

"Hello darlings." Aurora said as she stroked the sides of their heads and rubbed under their chins. "Ready to meet my old caregivers?"

The sounds made by Jessica and Dianna were happy, or at least seemed so, but Philip couldn't help but worry they may mistake "meet" and "meat" as the two voracious carnivores had removed most of the pest rats from the castle and they would both be increasing their hunting grounds as they grew older. This wasn't so much an issue with space as it was the fact Disney has this weird sapient animal/non-sapient animal dichotomy going and magic didn't help much to distinguish between the two. Best described as the Narnia problem, the only way that they got around this issue was to farm their own non-sapient species for food and such. Still as pack animals they had a natural inclination for group behavior and seemed to listen to instruction so no likely they would start seeing humans as food anytime soon.

"So is Cinderella joining us?" Philip asked as he scratched the back of his head. "It was her idea afterall and if she is there I doubt our intent will be mistaken." The four walked towards the large castle stables and down various hallways and through several doors with no sign of the other princess.

"I know she's an early riser and always been one…but I have no clue where she could be.." As Aurora stroked her chin, she heard the sound of sweeping and a familiar strawberry blonde cleaning up in the stables.

"Finally I was wondering when you were going to join me." Cinderella was there dressed in an apron and cleaning up the straw from the feeding bales.

"Uh you don't need to do that; you're a guest here." Aurora blinked as she politely tried to neither offend her friend's generosity or seem like it was expected behavior.

"Oh don't worry about it. I just wanted to spend time getting to know Betsy a bit more." The older royal smiled as she laid her hand on the stegosaur's side. The creature had taken up residency in the palace stables hand was busy reducing cycad leaves to a pulp clipping through it's daily food stock. While the fearsome thagomizer was held aloft by the strong muscles of the beast's tail, the plates on the back were just starting to grow as a line of parallel lumps along the back.

"She doesn't like grasses or hay at all though." Cinderella pointed out as she was obsessed with her favorite dinosaur.

"Honestly she wouldn't. See my friend grasses and grains didn't evolve until the middle part of the Cenozoic, also known as the age of mammals." Aurora pointed out patting the herbivore on its flank. "Betsy here would never see grass as she is from a time about 100 million years before they ever evolved. Now Samson here…" Aurora said moving to her husband's friend and stroking the horse's mane. "evolved for the rich grasslands originally in North American and then spread throughout Asia and Europe over millions of years."

"How do you know so much?" Cinderella said as she listened with delight.

"I ask her that all the time." Philip joked.

"Well it has to do with their teeth, see horses have what are called high crown grinding molars that…oh you aren't actually asking how we can figure this out but how I learned all this aren't you?" Aurora smiled stopping herself mid-sentence.

"I wouldn't dream of stopping your lecture professor." Cinderella smiled back. "Please continue." At her friend's request Aurora did continue.

"Oh good. See mammals like us, Samson, your friend Bruno, all have teeth that are specialized to occlude against an upper and lower surface with different teeth handling different tasks. In the case of Samson his teeth allow for clipping of grasses and then grinding of the mass into a pulp that he swallows. This is great for fast processing of plant matter like grasses as it breaks up the cell walls and moistens the material before it is processed by stomach acids. Now Betsy here clips her food with a razor sharp beak and processes softer plant mater than Samson with teeth that are built like serrated pruning shears. She can't process the silica rich plants like grasses and prefers ferns, shrubs, and cycads and has the added benefit of using stones in her stomach to break up the plant matter even more to be digested. So getting her diet right is a big part of the work at Jurassic Park."

"Okay so I have one question left before we go," Cinderella started as she put the apron away. "Why do all the workers take special care of Betsy's….well dropping to be polite."

"Oh that. Mainly for the ammonia. You clean up bird droppings a lot so that white stuff is rich in nitrogen. Works like a superfertilizer for plants as they love the nitrogen boost." Aurora said. "Our farmers love the stuff so much that they don't mind the occasional escape or having a few multiple ton herbivores around."

"Any chance I could eventually get one?" Cinderella asked as she was fascinated by how much Aurora actually knew about biology.

"Probably not, but that's because there is almost no room for these guys in your kingdom…no offense just you are from such a developed city and…." Cinderella relented as her story took place in what was post-Napoleonic city while Aurora's kingdom had an almost unlimited amount of running room that dinosaurs would be happy in. And to be able to see Jurassic Park completed….oh that would be so amazing as the number and variety of dinosaurs they had on that island would be wonderous to see.

"I understand. So we riding or taking the carriage?" Cinderella asked moving head from Aurora to Philip.

"I say ride as the carriage isn't made for off road." Philip said as he got his saddle off the wall. "And besides you need to stretch your legs old friend." Samson cheered at this notion as his ridder lead him from his stable room and into the main body of the stable to attach the saddle.

"Oh what fun." Cinderella smiled as one of the many attendants just got her horse ready for her before she could react. "Uh thank you. Will they have any trouble keeping up?" Cinderella asked pointing to Jessica and Dianna.

"That one can run at up to 60 miles an hour for about half an hour and the other can cruise at about 20 none-stop." Philip said as he pointed at Dianna and the to Jessica while scooping up Aurora onto Samson's back. "We won't be able to keep up with them." He said leading the group out of the castle.

"Where did you find that out." Cinderella said as she followed behind on her borrowed horse.

"We used to also have a highwayman problem along with the rat issue…Dianna took sport in the later and took offense to the former." Philip replied. Dianna and Jessica just followed alongside the horses, with the occasion tapping of Dianna's big toe claw against the cobble road when she thought she noticed something of interest.

While fascinating and unnerving as it was, the raptor never was far from Aurora and Jessica kept her attention on any curious movement. Their movement still was unnerving for Cinderella with their necks being far more flexible than those of any mammal she had seen and reminder her of the geese at her father's estate. Geese with rows of razor sharp serrated teeth, a mouth full of toxic spit, and a claw that could pin you down and disembowel prey in seconds with the hands ending in fish-hook curved blades. But for some reason for all these fearsome anatomical features never did Cinderella seem afraid of these dinosaurs. There was no malice in them and they acted almost like oversized pet parrots near Aurora.

"I hope that she didn't eat the man." Cinderella finally admitted, as it was something even Aurora had feared. Maneaters were terrifying and the idea of any of those in her care becoming like Shere Kahn was a fear that Aurora kept close to her heart.

"No, but Dianna did kill him by tearing out his neck when he attacked. It wasn't a pretty sight but she didn't tear out his guts if that was what you were worried about." Philip admitted as he held his wife's waist a bit tighter saying so. The forest getting closer and closer as they rode on. Now it was in walking distance, but time was a factor and no idea how long it would take to find Fauna much less get her help with Aurora's questions meant they needed speed.

"So this is where you grew up Aurora?" Cinderella said as she looked at all the lush trees that were so thickly growing together at places they nearly blotted out the whole sun. Scattered throughout were spots of open areas with grasses and the occasional stream, but there seemed something unnatural about the way the forest was put together. It was as if the plants were arranged like a garden rather than naturally grown. But what about it made it seem that way Cinderella couldn't tell.

"Indeed. I know that it's not as persay lavish as the palace, but it will always be a home to me." Aurora smiled as Philip pulled Samson around making there way finally to the cabin before lunchtime.

"In more ways that one." Philip smiled. The cabin was the same kind of run-down place it was when he first showed up there years ago to court Aurora, and get ambushed by Malificent's forces in the dark of night. "Looks like the abandoned the place after our wedding."

"Well it isn't like they needed it after raising me." Aurora pointed out as Philip helped her off his steed. "And it will always have that cozy feel to it." Aurora said as the light of the late morning sun filled the few rooms within. Only two stories and just enough space for a kitchen, dining room, and bedrooms upstairs. Still it was painted well and each bit of bracing and wall had some ornate carving in it.

"It looks lovely, though the dust and cobwebs look like no one has been here in a very long time." Cinderella admitted.

"Flora, Fauna, Merryweather where are you?" Aurora cried out at the top of her lungs. She didn't get a response from anyone and made her way to the bedrooms upstairs. Almost banging her head against the archway while doing so as she had grown a bit since she was a little girl and her caregivers were far shorter than she was. "Hello anyone home?" Aurora knocked politely at each door upstairs and found that no response was to be had. The doors were unlocked and inside each room was nothing more than the beds they had slept in under the disguise of being human. Aurora's own room too was empty, save for her old bed and the remains of the make-shift draw curtains used to keep in warmth in the cold winters before central heat was developed.

"I guess no one really is here?" Philip said as he knocked on the wooden walls to see if that got a response. Only reaction he got though was that the thatched roof gave way and a chuck of the ceiling feel to the floor. "Uh let's not do that again." He commented to himself.

"Well it was a long shot to being with." Cinderella said as she too saw nothing. "Besides we only started so maybe ask your old forest friends if anyone has seen them around lately?"

"And you called me the smart one?" Aurora smiled at the notion. "Well worth a shot at least." Aurora said as there was a clanging sound coming from the kitchen. Rushing back downstairs Philip smacked his head on the low-level archway and groaned at himself for doing so. Sadly it was not a fairy, but rather Dianna sticking her nose into the cupboards poking around sniffing for food and tracking the scent of rodents.

The raptor moved from side to side as she turned her attention to Aurora and "yomed" at the royal. Aurora shook her head in response and replied back to the raptor.

"She said she smelled a mouse, but it was an old trail."

"Would she be able to track the fairies then? If she can smell out prey like a blood hound then is it worth a shot?" Cinderella asked.

"Unfortunately fairies can teleport and shift their size around so often that she would never get a fixed scent trail and it would be impossible to have he focus on one path." Aurora sighed.

"You may as well roar like a T-Rex for all good that would do." Philip joked.

"We can try that as a last ditch effort." Aurora smiled at her husband's humor.

"You can roar like a Tyrannosaurus?" Cinderella blinked. "Why should I be surprised now?" She said shaking her head in good humor.

Quickly mounting up again, the three humans, two horses, and two dinosaurs headed out to the clearing where Aurora and Philip first met. While seemingly nearby to the cottage, the way was longer due to having to go around the ravine on horseback as the branch had long given way and no one wanted to risk a jump with too much weight on the unstable soil. Well almost no one as Jessica jumped across the gap without difficulty and landed without breaking her stride. She chirped back at the rest of the group and was confused when they didn't follow.

"Good girl." Aurora said as Jessica ran back to her mistress and blinked her nictitating membrane and eyelid in confusion. "Well here goes nothing." Aurora took in a breath and started singing the same resonating note she sang to her forest friends many years ago.

"I wonder…" Aurora began the whole song and the hypnotic notes filled the air gaining the attention of a number of birds and a few squirrels. Pulling into the clearing, now ringed with birds and small mammals, the group again dismounted and carefully waited to see what happened.

"Hello my old friends, how are you doing?" Aurora smiled as she was almost swarmed with affectionate smaller animals.

"Careful, they may steal your boots if you aren't careful." Philip joked to Cinderella. The strawberry blonde teasingly punched him in the shoulder.

"Yes I know it's been a while." Aurora said as she stroked one of the many red squirrels under the chin. "Awe look at how big your family has gotten." Seeing as this may be a while, Jessica and Dianna squatted down next to the horses and chirped at eachother and started to preen like modern birds do.

"Now I know we have some catching up to do, but have any of you seen Flora, Fauna, or Merryweather around? It is very important I talk with them." Everyone of the gathered assembly of vertebrates turned to one another and then collectively shook their heads.

"No? How long has it been?" The combination of chirping, squeaking, and other utterances sounded like nothing but chatter to Philip and like someone have a conversation far too fast for Cinderella.

"I see. So none of you have an idea where they all got off to?" Aurora sighed as she went around petting each one of the gathered group. "Well thank you all…if you see them please let them know I need to talk."

"Another dead end?" Philip asked as he placed his hand on his wife's shoulder.

"Indeed." Aurora sighed before standing up, taking a breath, and letting out a tremendous roar at the top of her voice. The sound nearly blew out Philip's eardrum and spooked the heck out of the horses and caused Jessica and Dianna to jump to their feet and make submitting gestures to Aurora.

"What was that!?" Cinderella blinked as the sound Aurora had made cause the older girl to fall flat on her butt and be left with a ringing in her ears.

"Well what do you think it was?" Aurora shrugged.

"That was, you just roared like a Tyrannosaurus Rex?" Cinderella was in shock for a moment realizing that her friend was not kidding about the whole roaring thing.

"Yep, figured that would get someone's attention." Aurora sighed as she sat down on a log and waited for any sort of reply to happen. Philip popped his ears a few times and then sat down beside his wife.

"Well I'm sure someone had to hear that, in fact I am still hearing it right now." Philip joked as he pulled his cape over his wife's shoulders and hugged her.

"Sorry I just don't know how to get them to take notice, I mean never before did I have to call on them and as much as they were part of my life they just vanished after reuniting me with my biological family."

"Last I saw them was when they kept changing your dress color at our wedding." Philip said as he joked. "Why didn't they just agree on purple anyway? It matches your eyes."

Aurora chuckled at Philip's humor and even Cinderella found it very amusing. "Sorry I have no suggestions either as my experiences with fairies was only once and she came to me."

"Well at least we can run through what we know. One is that we have cloned dinosaurs that are supposed to all be female, but we have eggs that are unlike any bird or reptile egg on the island. Second issue is that the compies always seem to either forget my voice or have never met me, but they have no mental issues. Another problem is that some of the dinosaurs are developing features that may be sexual dimorphic in nature…"

"Sorry sexual diwhat Aurora?" Cinderella scratched her head as she sat at Aurora's side opposite Philip.

"Sexual dimorphic…features two different genders of a same species has like birds with males being more colorful that females." Aurora mentioned to her friend. "Specifically one of the dilophosaurus on the island is getting bigger and showing a red crest."

"So what you are saying is that, you have dinosaurs breeding in the wild of Jurassic Park and no one knows about it because they are all supposed to be girls." Philip asked making sure that he was on the same page as his wife.

"Yes, and not only female but supposedly sterile." Aurora said placing her hands in her lap. "And the only one who may help us is nowhere around. Plus I need to contact Grant in Montana to ask his help about some of the animals getting sick on the island."

"Sorry what is this about an island?" A familiar voice sounded behind Aurora as there flying about three feet off the ground was the very fairy they had been looking for for the last few hours.

"Fauna." Aurora cried with joy as she hugged her former caregiver. "I've been looking all over for you."

"I'm so sorry child. I just heard you were looking for me oh and Philip how are you. You look like marriage suits you, and Cinderella you look so lovely. I wish you told me you were coming we could have had a party." Fauna waved her wand and in an instant there was lunch for all before them. The jovial and sweet-natured fae smiled as she pulled a few chairs out of nowhere and then she saw the two other animals Aurora had brought with her.

"Bless my soul, what are you two?" Fauna said in awe as the two theropods blinked at her with curiosity.

Aurora placed her hands on Fauna's shoulders.

"They are part of why we came here Fauna. See I've taken a job at another park ontop of my work with Disney, a very special park where my gifts help people and animals stay safe with one another, and these are two of the animals from that park. These are Jessica the dilophosaurus and Dianna the raptor…they say velociraptor but that can't be right. Not with how big she is."

Fauna looked over the creatures with surprise and awe. "I would say not, and they aren't even real dinosaurs either. Not without feathers and certainly not when they contain frog DNA." The fae said lifting her wand again. "Here let me help." In a flash of dust and light both of the female dinosaurs started to sprout a coat of downy feathers, and Dianna's was a far more elaborate set of long display feathers on top of that. Beautifully colored with greens, reds, and whites.

"Oh that's much better. Why I haven't seen these species since…since…how did you find living non-avian dinosaurs child?" Aurora explained to Fauna in great detail the park, the cloning, the hope to help those who were trying to bring joy to others and the problems with Disney lately. In the end Fauna took Aurora's hands into her own and sat down at the table. The somewhat scatterbrained fae was at a loss as to what to do, but if she was a mother to Aurora she wasn't going to not help.

"Child, I may not have told you but as an embodiment and caregiver of nature it is my job to watch over all animal life in one form or another, and I know you live in a world far different that the one you grew up in, that I live in. Now you have said there are eggs in the park?"

Aurora nodded as she placed the shells on the table.

"You recognize them?" Aurora asked with concerned.

"Child eggs like this haven't existed on the face of the Earth in about 65 million years. You are correct they are dinosaur eggs."

"How do you know about dinosaurs?" Cinderella asked politely to Fauna.

"My dear I may look human, but fae are not human. Our powers and our nature are linked to the forces of creation itself and we are at best spirits and are attuned to what we are part of. I know all animals because I am part of the guardianship of animals…but sadly I only know what I need to so I can do my job. And this Dr. Wu is playing with forces he doesn't understand."

"I hope you aren't upset with me." Aurora said as she petted Jessica and Dianna's heads.

"Not at all child, people learn by making mistakes. You learn from exploring, which I can't do. I just know what I need to know to get by…which makes it hard for us to learn new things."

"Which is why you had such a hard time making my dress or baking from just instructions." Aurora said understanding a bit more about her caregiver.

"Right…oh sorry about that." Fauna smiled sheepishly remembering how the fight with Flora and Merryweather lead to Aurora's curse being fulfilled.

"So if the dinosaurs are breeding, then how are they doing it?" Philip asked. "Last time I checked you need male and females to reproduce."

"Well not always Philip, but yes they do. I'm guessing because of the frog DNA they are changing genders."

"Frogs change gender?" Philip asked blinking at that knowledge.

"Not all, but some. In fact mammals with the whole XY/XX system are very different from all other systems in nature. Certain snakes, birds, frogs, and fish regularly change from male to female as populations require, and I am guessing Dr. Wu added frog DNA without realizing what it would do to the dinosaurs. Aurora, I need to go to the park." Fauna said understanding what she had to do. "I will talk with Flora and Merryweather but something is definitely wrong there and you will need my help. I won't have much magic with me, but we will help somehow."

"But why? If we can show they are breeding then we can just have Aurora help contain the issue right?" Philip said taking pride in his wife.

"Oh no, no we need them to breed. They will need viable diverse genetic material to survive. Oh I'm so glad I helped these dinosaurs when I did. Illness and making copies of copies would cause most of these dinosaurs to get sick and worse become deformed." Fauna said as she summoned a large chunk of meat for the two predators to tear into. "If they just keep cloning then…oh I don't want to think of the disaster they will cause." Fauna said as she looked over the two young therapods.

"Wait we want them to breed?" Philip scratched his head. "I'm lost here."

"They will need a varied genetic pool to be healthy and survive. Using the same limited pool of genes is always a danger, and one I feared about with you Aurora." Fauna said with her head turned down.

"Me? What do you mean is something wrong with me?" Aurora said in fear. Was there something else she wasn't told.

"Oh no no you are completely healthy. It was your parents my child. You see I was worried that their trouble with being able to have a baby was because, well you know about genes and such….ever see what happens with having a shallow gene pool happens. Inbreeding and such…"

"Oh you were worried my parents were…oh I see, but what does that have to do with the dinosaurs on the island?" Aurora asked getting the picture.

"If they are all clones, they all have the same DNA, then they won't be able to fight disease or live for very long. And since they are from millions of years ago I will have to fix all of their DNA to be varied enough to survive."

"Sounds like a simple fix to me right?" Cinderella smiled as she saw the new fluffier dinosaurs before her. "I guess I am missing something now."

Fauna took a moment to think this through, which sadly wasn't her best but she was insightful. "It would take all my magic to fix the island of the park, and the island they are cloning on. And I will need both Flora and Merryweather's help….and I will only just have enough and have to come back as soon as possible. There just isn't enough magic left in the present to do much more."

"You can't weaken yourself for me, I can't let you just burn yourself out." Aurora argued out of concern.

"My child, it would be no trouble for me to do this for you." Fauna smiled. "Well it would be, but still I would love to help you again."

"Awe thank you so much." Aurora smiled and hugged Fauna around the neck. "But I don't go back for two weeks."

"Oh that will be perfect. I always wanted to see the South Pacific." Fauna said giddily. "After Merlin pulled that vacation to Bermuda I've always wanted to see the tropics."

"Isn't Bermuda in the Atlantic?" Cinderella asked.

"Well yes, but still the tropics. Oh how exciting this will be." The still scatterbrained fae flew off at that point leaving the three humans, two horses, and now two feathery carnivores in the woods.

"That was…interesting. But hey progress is progress. So now what do we do?" Philip asked as he looked at his wife, the food before him, and then Cinderella.

"Have lunch and then I go make a phone call to Montana again, or see if I got a call I guess." Aurora said as she sat down to eat.

"I hope we aren't keeping you from anything important Cinderella." Aurora said as they sat down to say grace.

"Are you kidding? Living dinosaurs, magic, weird science, and I get to spend time with my close friends? I'm having a blast. Just make sure the dinosaurs don't eat me."

"Cinderella that is my job." Aurora pointed out as the three had lunch. It was going to be an interesting two weeks of waiting.

The office of John Hammond was not about waiting though. It was about action and moving, and getting things ready. And with nearly half a billion spent into the project already it was taking everything that Ray Arnold had to point out not to skip steps and cut corners. However, the command center of Isla Nublar and the visitor's center both were in far better shape than when Aurora first showed up. Most of the wires and panels were installed and the huge computer mainframes were whirling away with camera data, animal location numbers, communication systems, messages, and data uploads. Sadly it was not completely autonomous and far from completely finished.

"I told you John we need extra coders to build the mainframe for our system to help keep the automations running for the safety of staff and parkgoers." Ray said as he kept pressing buttons on his computer with an overview of the current system.

"And I keep telling you I have it covered. I just got Dennis Nedry to agree to come over and build our system." John said to his employee. "Till then we are working under Dr. Rose's guidelines and you are responsible for designing our layout to show the animals to the future guests. We have the main park exhibit covered, so all we need now is the river ride worked on and the aviary."

"John you know those things are too dangerous to have people see now. The pterosaurs are too aggressive and we haven't been able to build a structure that can safely keep the customers from being attacked. The plastics needed just don't exist yet." Ray countered as he went over all he had so far. "No one expected Pteranodons to need that much space and they are like geese mixed with storks with regards to attitude. Be thankful the ones on Isla Sorna are contained in a solid carbon steel re-enforced framework where we just have to keep the river stocked with fish to keep them alive."

"Yes yes I know, but we need more than just the one ride or we won't have many people coming to see the animals. I'm just glad the raptor pit worked out so well."

"I got yea on that." Ray said in response. "Walkway system where the animals aren't able to jump up to the people and a steel mesh security catch under it to prevent people from falling in. Just be lucky Dr. Rose is paying for this as well as doing all the animal control as the old system probably would have gotten someone killed." The older cage system planned was an open concrete bunker with a metal gate at one end they would load the animals into and electrical fencing around the whole thing where food was lowered in by a mechanical arm. Sadly the loading aspect meant someone that to physically life the gate on top of the cage to get the animal inside the bunker. Now the animals were loaded into a cage, the whole cage was loaded into the unloading area, the gate to the outside was lowered down by several ton hydraulic presses and then the gate to the open area and the cage opened only when the humans were outside making an airlock like system. Expensive but Dr. Rose's dropping the cost of medical expenses made the argument for it more convincing to other investors.

"And the expanded Rex paddock, and wanting to put in plastic protectors around the river ride boats to prevent toxic spit from getting in people's faces, and the audio system we build, and the animal calls we recorded, and the geothermal plant that runs everything, and the increased stock of antibiotics, and a thousand other things we have had the funds to spend on." John said taking a break and collapsing into his chair. He took a moment to look over the amber mosquito on the end of his cane.

"But soon, soon it will all be worth it." John smiled. The dream of a lifetime finally made real and he would have proven everyone wrong that it couldn't be done.

It was then that fate stepped in again as the phone to the mainland went off. "Hello John Hammond speaking." He said in a cheery voice hoping it was another investor agreeing to send money for the project.

"John this is Donald Gennaro again." John took off his hat and rolled his eyes at this. "We need to talk about the park and the figures you sent me regarding your safety measures."

"Donald I have already sent you every accent report since the park started being built and our new safety measures, and our updated personnel logs." John said, really hating lawyers at this point.

"I got them, and they make no sense. I'm putting this on conference call by the way with Dr. Malcom." If there was one person John Hammond didn't want to talk to it was Dr. Ian Malcom. All chaos theory, that you can't build a perfect system, that things will go wrong, and that odd chuckle of his just rubbed John the wrong way.

"Uh hi we on?" Dr. Malcom's voice rang out through the phone line. "Yeah I was looking at this too and…you're tell me that just this one additional person fixed all these problems, problems by the way you didn't bother to try and address before she showed up and I told you were going to be issues?"

John needed a beer at this point. "Yes she has. Look Dr. Rose is the leading expert in animal behavior and her research is without question the best look into animal calls and communication in the last 50 years. Now say what you will be I assure you that she has done everything I have said she has and more." John's strident voice went out over the line.

"And that is what is concerning me and the investors John, the park has never been tried and you have a supposedly perfect system that is still at least three years away from opening and you are telling everyone that there are no more problems?" Donald said as he tapped his pen on his desk.

"We are currently in the process of constructing the most sophisticated and well-engineered security and networking system on the planet Donald. Our animal handling and care is the best on the planet and you can't say that we aren't going above and beyond what any zoo on the planet has ever done."

"Uh yeah but zoos have accidents all the time." Dr. Malcom said with his usually oddly paced tone. "People fall into exhibits, people get sick from germs animals carry, and you can't tell me that it is perfect because every human and animal interaction has a level of risk to it no matter how tame an animal may seem. You have no idea what some individual creature will do and you are on an island with limited staff and few if any medical professionals trying to control the interactions of millions of choices."

"I assure you Dr. Malcom that our staff is the best in the world and we are still building the structures we need for the park and the safety of everyone here." John Hammond almost barked back at the allegation set against him.

"John the investors aren't going to keep just buying your story. Before we even consider opening there is going to be a detailed and precise into you, your work out there, and into this Dr. Rose you hired. And her I will need to get to again."

"Donald Dr. Rose is beyond reproach in her work and her professionalism and I resent the assumption that she is otherwise. Now we also have Dr. Grant on retainer and access to the finest research into genetics on the planet with Dr. Wu." John continued. "So the investors can relax everything is fine here. We are just installing the systems needed to make things run smoothly.

"John we are going to be going to the park before it opens and you need to have those systems installed and working before we do. I also want to talk with Dr. Rose right now. Is she free."

"Dr. Rose isn't on the island right now and won't be for another two weeks." John said as he opened his log book. "She shipped out of here on her rotation, which you also have a copy of by the way, and is currently unable to call you. I suggest that you contact her privately if you need to talk with her."

"Believe me I will. And who was this you said you had as another expert…Dr. Grant?"

"Yes Dr. Grant, but good luck contacting him as he is currently doing field work in the Montana badlands and likely won't be free to talk for a few days. No phone on site afterall." John smirked waiting for Donald's frustration to grow. This got under the lawyer's skin and that as a good thing for John Hammond. "Now is there more you need to know?"

"At this time no, but I am waiting to see if this sleeping beauty to turn into a raging dragon." Donald said as he completed his call. "And John you will keep us informed as to any changes that happen in the park as we will be looking it over with a fine-toothed comb soon enough." The call ended as both Donald Gennaro and Dr. Malcom's lines went click.

"Damn lawyers." John said, Ray nodded at this.

"Well good news is that we are running alright and Dr. Rose is easy enough to call to let her know." Ray Arnold said as he shot back his coffee. "Now about this Dennis Nedry guy, think he can get the job done?"

"He's being paid enough to. Wish all our additional employees had Dr. Rose's attitude Ray. It would make this a lot more pleasant a situation."

To be continued

Author's notes: I hope you all liked this update and let me know what you think. Reviews are always welcome so please they mean a lot if I get one.


	5. Chapter 5

Jurassic Park what if chapter 5

Jurassic Park belongs to the estate of Michael Crichton and Universal Studios

Disney stuff is Disney's stuff

Raptors are extremely intelligent and any animal that is intelligent and not able to occupy itself will get bored and start to mess with things that need not be messed with. Everyone knew this and was one of the many reasons Maldoon was thankful that Hammond had followed Dr. Rose's suggestion and invested some of the millions that were Dr. Rose's personal investment into a completely new facility for these hyper carnivorous killing machines. The big worry with displaying the animals for the guests was that the original pen was a massive electrified fence. This was open to everyone to see, but that came with the fact the raptors hid perfectly at eye level and so no one would often be able to appreciate them. So a whole new idea was required for the park if they wanted guests to appecuappr these special hunters. But humans near raptors was always a bad idea .

The game warden took a deep breath as he looked over the walkway of the raptor pen. The internal part of the complex was 100 yards long and about 110 yards wide with a walkway about 35 feet above the ground. Although the raptors could jump almost to that height at their maximum effort, the re-enforced walk-way guards around the whole walk-way and wire-mesh net in key places seemed to keep them from getting up to the people. As for getting out, the walls were about 15 feet thick and went 12 feet down into the ground. Around the main running area was a series of doors leading to pens for vets to treat animals, holding areas for new hatchlings to slowly get introduced to the pack, and special areas to allow the animals to escape from the weather.

This massive complex had cost almost all the millions Dr. Rose had put into the park on top of the initial investment. Between the concrete, steel, work, and completely redesigning how the tourists were going to be guided through the park, it was almost as costly as the increased amount of amber that Hammond had been searching for around the world.

Maldoon was extremely careful as he noted the animals running around in their larger home. Having open ground mixed with giant ferns seemed to make the raptors a bit more relaxed than they had been before.

"So changed your mind about on our attractions?" Hammond asked as he walked out onto the walkway. The sound of his cane tapping on the metal walkway made a resounding clang with each step that John Hammond made. The push to get the park open with enough of a profit magine to pay the investors was getting to the point that it would be so easy to cut corners or take the easy way out.

"Still too dangerous to allow out in our park John." Maldoon replied as he saw the adult animals nipping at eachother as they challenged eachother for pack position. Maldoon could hear them hissing and clicking at eachother. Even as the animals seemed calmer than they had been, there was no what that he was going to let his tension down. He had seen what raptors could do, and no matter how relaxed a lion is in a zoo they are still a lion and raptors were smarter and more vicious than any lion Maldoon had ever seen. "The most we can hope for is a small amount of visitors walking over the walkway looking down at them."

"What like some sort of giant birdhouse?" Hammond laughed as if this was an absurd suggestion. Completely forgetting how he had funded Dr. Grant and Dr. Rose's whole point of being on the job was the relationship with dinosaurs and birds.

"If need be." Maldoon politely pointed out.

"Look, with all the money we have saved from our decreased hazard problems, and by the vociferous commenting by you and my other 'experts' of these animals to our investors, we were able to build this giant stadium enclosure and I'm not going to prevent visitors from seeing these marvelous animals. Our park demands we do this and we will unquestionably going to show them what they came to see." Hammond was absolutely unmoving on that point as the old man shifted from his usual pleasant demeanor to a dictatorial autocrat. It was impossible to deal with him during those times and best to just nod your head and do what he said, or as close as he wanted without doing something too stupid and risking safety.

Maldoon shook his head as he looked out over the pin. Below were about 9 voracious carnivores who were waiting for something. Some had been preening themselves, others had been staring up at the game warden. He still felt uncomfortable with these creatures, but thankfully they seemed to be far calmer than before. What got under Maldoon's skin was how they were always thinking, but he could never get a read on them. Their eyes started to lock onto Maldoon more and more even though the resounding sound of Hammond's cane striking the metal walkway would have seemed to have gotten more attention.

Maldoon then saw that some of the raptors from the edge of the pen started to approach the handler. Some were chirping, some were nipping at eachother as they established their pecking order, and soon all of the adult raptors were below the South African looking up at him as if they were baby birds waiting to be fed by their parent.

"What are you lot doing now?" Maldoon asked confused.

"Ah excellent." Hammond said as he saw the dinosaurs becoming active. "They are waiting to be fed."

"Fed?" Maldoon asked curiously. "I thought that we just opened the goat pen or offered a cow once in a while. Why are they looking at me to feed them?

"With the new enclosure Dr. Rose suggested we alter the feeding method so to take advantage of their social behavior." Hammond said as he ushered a man standing on the other end of the walkway over. "Care to try?"

The man was decked out in hardhat, work boots, and the typical blue Jurassic Park garment. He was carrying a bucket full of something that slapped from side to side as he walked.

"Jose what are you bringing me?" Maldoon said to the man curiously.

"Rats Senor Maldoon. An appetizer for the raptors." The worker smiled as he passed the bucket to the senior staff member. "Doctor Rose uses them to get their attention before they hunt."

"So why are you handing me this thing?"

"These are to reward them Senor." Jose said as he placed the bucket on the walkway. "We are trying to see if we can trick the to hunt down there so they don't think of us as food."

Maldoon was a professional hunter. Pest animals, animal control within parks, or just sport when needed; he had shot one of just about every predator animal in all of Africa and had to get an in-depth understanding of how each predator stalked, the type of prey it favored, and how each would react in different situations. Lions, leopards, hyena, all of them had their own unique behaviors and Maldoon knew each of theme of theirs well. But these animals were so far removed from any known point of reference than he had to completely rethink his whole methodology.

With nothing to go on with regards to temperament, intelligence, speed, and agility, Maldoon had to build a completely new frame of reference and try to instill that new frame into the minds of each and every one of his coworkers. With the simple electrical fencing Maldoon could feel the animosity the animals had for him and his workers. He could almost taste their desire to run, hunt, kill. No big cat or wild canid was the perfect mix of problems with regards to containment as these slashing toe killers. Which was why Maldoon had wanted to kill each and every one of them when they first were cloned. Now though there was an uneasy truce between Maldoon and the raptors were both forced to adapt to a new state of mutual respect.

"So do I just toss these to them?" Maldoon asked sarcastically.

"No Senior, they have to work for it." Jose smiled as his superior.

"Dr. Rose mentioned that she noticed they needed to run, needed to hunt and be mentally stimulated to be healthy. So Ray designed this little wonder." Hammond smiled as he started playing a recording of Aurora's voice and all the raptors snapped to attention. "Here just press the button."

Taking a small remote from Hammond's hand Maldoon pressed the indicated switch. With the copious amount of automation and computers within the Park meant to save the cost on people the notion of working remotes into the park wasn't out of the question, but what in the world was this supposed to do?

Maldoon pressed the button and in an instant a spring-loaded aperture shot open as a high-speed cut out of one of the goats raced along a track. Instantly the raptors snapped to attention and leapt after the metal-framed "toy" like a group of grey hounds after a metal rabbit.

"We first tried using the crane to guide the dinosaurs for them to run from one side of the enclosure." Hammond mentioned to Maldoon who was focused on how fast and how coordinated the pack was chasing down their "toy".

"That would seem to be dangerous." Maldoon said as he kept his eyes focused on the pack. "Any sort of ledge or place they can jump from and the guests are good as dead."

"Yes well, so we had his mono-rail toy of their's so they can run and tire out." Hammond pointed out. "Top of the line magnetic rail system, nothing to catch on or get jammed on."

Maldoon saw that the metal plated goat zipped along getting tagged from time to time as the dinosaurs seemed to try to know that the thing wasn't a real meal, but like a cat they headed right for it with abandon…but something was off. He and seen raptors stalk before, and they would leap upon their prey ambushing from the sides if possible. But they had shifted style when dealing with this fake prey as they seemed to nip at the fake hindquarters.

Some tried scratching the thing at high speed, but none tried to bite into it or jump onto the target. Maldoon saw these hunters could easily catch up and could have tackled the thing and yet they didn't. If they thought the metal was a real prey item so why not try to kill it?

Maldoon didn't like this, he didn't like that one bit. The raptors were chasing something that didn't match food in taste, resistance, or smell and even though they had an instinct to chase and hunt. What the dinosaurs were not doing though was to try and forceful dig into the fast-moving metal object. They were scratching the paint with their claws, may even nipping where the legs were, but the leaping charge that raptors used to pounce upon prey just didn't happen.

Robert Maldoon had seen these things eviscerate goats in seconds and tear into cattle with a combination of their wicked toe claws, claws on their fingers, and their teeth were the prey's guts splayed out from their sides and the cattle died in shock as the force of trauma and blood loss caused their blood pressure to plummet ending the life of the goat, cow, or whatever in a matter of seconds. Raptors had no fear in their attacks; once they set to them and the only thing that every halted one from decimating whatever they had their teeth in was a massive electrical charge from the old fence system.

Now cats and dogs will chase after non-food items, but always for some sort of reward…

Maldoon was hit with a metaphorical brick to the skull. These raptors were being trained, or had been trained and they knew that properly interacting with their toy they would get something. The scratching and nibbling wasn't from trying to kill it. No they were investigating it. The former hunter looked grimly at the whole thing.

"Too smart, too bloody smart." Maldoon said to himself in a low whisper.

"Good news is that they seem far more receptive to human control that before." Dr. Wu said taking notes as he saw the raptors hunting and training.

"More like receptive to one human's control." Maldoon pointed out. Maldoon made clear his stance on this. "And I don't want us for a moment to forget that."

"Yes, but at least now we have a greater understanding of the animals in question. And they seem to be more receptive to our instruction. With future generations I'm sure we will have them completely under our control." Dr. Wu was exceedingly smug about this, and careless.

Maldoon knew better. Animals were unpredictable at times and had a will of their own. Smart animals, powerful animals, made such things as control a pipe-dream at best. What Maldoon had was respect. He respected the predators before him, understood what they could do and how easily they could rip the guts out of someone if they were careless or stupid. And whatever or however Dr. Rose was able to influence these animals was unique to her and not someone you could just put together in a lab. And she respected these animals too. Dr. Wu's mindset was completely wrong and Maldoon knew it.

Dr. Wu seemed so intent on the next cloned animal, the next step, the next modification, that he was growing careless to the fact these animals were living things and, at least in Maldoon's eyes, that meant he was forgetting the tangible danger of animals in captivity. How many circus tigers attacked their handlers, how many caged lions would challenge their caregivers for supreme authority in the pins? No carelessness could not be tolerated by anyone if this park and its staff were to survive.

"Now Dr. Wu, your animosity with Dr. Rose is misplaced. Just because we didn't have the right species name on our animals is no reason to hold a grudge." Hammond calmly corrected his employee.

"Perhaps, but I have great news with that river ride you wanted to promote to go with our tour." Dr. Wu addressed Hammond without paying Maldoon much mind. "As none of our current carnivores work well with the attraction, I had to jump ahead on the development of our baryonx specimens and will soon have a new set of hatchlings ready for observation. I'm guessing another two to three weeks of incubation before they hatch."

"Great another new monster." Maldoon sighed. "What is this Barrywatsis anyway?"

"Baryonx. A medium sized picivore from the Early Cretaceous of England. We are hoping that unlike the Tyrannosaurs, raptors, or dilophosaurs that it will be an easier addition to work into our river ride as geology and diet indicate that it was focused mostly as a fish eater."

"Just because it ate fish doesn't mean it only ate fish doc." Maldoon said as the raptor's toy went into a door in the side of the enclosure and the raptors started looking up at the game warden again with hungry eyes. Well if they were expecting a reward for good behavior then Maldoon would make sure to give it to them.

Tossing one rat at a time, each raptor snapped up the treat thrown to them instantly. The speed at which the theropods below sliced through their meal with razor sharp serrated teeth was frightening. That was expected as Maldoon had seen them rip the guts out of still living goats in mere seconds, and they seemed to calm down slightly after the chase and the reward. But Maldoon knew they were going to need more than just a snack of a large rat to keep these ravenous killers sated.

"It seems you have a talent for the new feeding method." Hammond said in his usually excited state, somewhat oblivious to the dangers right below him.

"Seems to be working." Maldoon said. "So what about when we need a bigger meal?"

"We decided to use a mechanism similar to that of the Tyannosaur. Loading live food up from below with a cage of sorts.." Hammond went on. "We have worked out the schedule pretty well if I may say so. Have them run a while, get a reward, and then give them the real meat when we have worn them out."

The confidence that John had on his systems was without a doubt the most self-assured mindset possible.

"And what about that one?" Maldoon asked as he took a moment to gaze across the room to a closed off section where a caged raptor was housed. It was bigger than the others. Frighteningly bigger as a matter of fact. "Still giving problems for everyone?"

Hammond nodded his head. "Well we are sure it will eventually socialize, but so far we can't just let it into the main part of the enclosure."

"It was just like the rest genetically." Dr. Wu said. "No growth modifications, no aggression enhancements..." The doctor listed off thoughts as to why that one raptor was so dangerous to the others. The attempt was to get them used to each other through smell, like say introducing a new cat to the family, and slowly associate the new addition to the pack. It had worked before with the other dinosaurs. Or have a set of the same age cloned and grow up together as siblings. But this one was far different.

For some reason this one would start calling and preening itself whenever one of the other raptors would get close. It would make calls that none of the others vocalized, and then would leap aggressively at the reinforced door. The steel and mesh on that gate was bit and scratched so often that the lock had to be replaced twice within the past week. That door was soon to buckle if that one big one didn't stop running at the thing soon.

It would attack regularly during the day, and the new locking mechanism was a powerful electromagnetic bolt that held fast against the constant pounding. Not only was the bolt latched down mechanically but also the powerful magnet gave an added layer of force against the animal's stress.

"Should have left that beast on Sorna, or just put it down." Maldoon said as he took his binoculars out and looked to see the outline of the animal's eyes staring right back at him.

"I'm sure Dr. Rose will find an excellent solution to that one soon enough." Dr. Wu said sarcastically. Aurora's voice could calm the thing down, but Maldoon didn't know if she could put that one in its place. Something was just different about that raptor and Maldoon didn't trust it for a moment to behave right with the others. Still with the cost and very low success rate per clutch he wasn't about to just go over and blow the thing's head off with a twelve gage. Maldoon could see that big one was thinking, and he was worried about what those thoughts were.

Maldoon was not the only one in deep thought as King Stefan was busy himself in the early afternoon with one of his favorite pass times when not dealing with issues of the court, reading. While not as scientifically minded as his daughter, Stefan always tried to be a wise and just ruler who was always working towards learning as much as he could. With access to material centuries ahead of his time, Stefan hoped to learn from the mistakes of others as the modern world continued to work its way into the medieval ages he lived in.

The current volume in his hand, The Wealth of Nations, he hoped would help guide his choices as more and more influence from the continuing advancing technology. His beloved wife, Queen Leah, was sewing with the use of artificially died fibers. The wide range of pigments that modern chemistry created gave rise to a thriving textile industry and many families had started a growing level of home businesses. This rise in trade had led to an increased trade of ideas and more free funds for the average household meant that there was a rising middle class.

This meant that it would not be too long before more and more of the kingdom's people would come to realize the shift to the natural rights of the individual and less the supposed Devine rule of monarchy. But if most of his people were healthy, happy, and relatively free and defended with minimal direct impact on their lives then Stefan felt he had little to worry about with regards to being overthrown or the vast populous disgruntled. Still knowing how wealth and trade worked with an increased level of income from the modern world was vital as a ruler. That and it was always better to learn from other's mistakes than from your own.

"Dear you seem distracted." Leah joked as she continued with her sewing. "Something on your mind?"

"What, oh no no…just studying." Stefan smiled. "Trying to keep my mind sharp."

"Well don't get too focused. Afterall people may mistake you for a librarian than their king."

"A librarian?" Stefan laughed. "Oh how silly….still.." Stefan stroked his beard for a moment while putting the book down to think. "I would love to be able to have such a building in our kingdom." He pondered a bit at this. The modern world had many fascinating things to it. Vast literacy rates, freedom of travel, and one thing he made sure to have installed as soon as Mr. Disney had agreed to make that movie years ago: indoor plumbing and a modern sanitation system.

"Reading again daddy?" Aurora asked as she walked into the royal cambers. "I think I started a fad."

"Oh my dear daughter wounds me too now?" Stefan chuckled. "I have you know I've been an avid book lover before I met your mother, so I think that's just something I gave you. So were you successful in meeting Fauna?"

"A little too successful your grace." Philip said scratching his head, the two dinosaurs now appeared with their new plumage covering.

"Oh my…." Leah barely could contain her laughter as Dianna was preening a new coat of feathers. "Did Fauna do that?"

"Yes, much to everyone's confusion on the mater." Philip chuckled. "But we can talk about that later, my extremely wonderful wife made it clear we needed to get back because she needed to use the phone." At this Aurora politely made her way to the royal phone.

"Of course of course. So tell me, why do they now look like oversized chickens rather than giant lizards?" Leah asked as she giggled a bit seeing the royal pets before her. To her it was almost hilarious seeing these two covered in a coat of fluffy feathers. They could easily confuse someone unfamiliar with theses two predatory nature as some exotic relative of the peafowl.

"That's a long story your majesty." Cinderella politely started, very warry of the dilophosaur that she was trying to pet with some success. The fact that head was full of extremely sharp teeth not lost to her and the very reason why she was keeping her hands far from the mouth with its pointy bits and toxic secretions. Still Jessica tolerated Cinderella's actions as a pet canary would. The older princess wondered if a similarly sized creature would be a good pet. They seemed to be pack animals and humans had domesticated dogs from wolves. However she had learned the language of birds and mice by being around them and the smaller members of her household and they had human level intelligence.

Jessica though was only tamable because of the supernatural gifts of Aurora of voice and Fauna's training with all animals. It was then another realization had come to the redder haired royal. Aurora had formed an imprint in the dinosaurs she was around in the same way the ducks on Cinderella's family farm would act. In fact the whole interactions with these animals was a reinforcing of that social structure. Still though these animals fascinated her on a level Cinderella couldn't explain. Something primal within her was so curious about them, and somewhat afraid.

She moved her hand away from Jessica's head. The dilophosaur just took it in stride and shook her head and neck with a chirp. Nothing from Fantasia prepared Cinderella for seeing this living and breathing creature and that was the only frame of reference she had to go on with dinosaurs.

"Was it some sort of joke on Fauna's behalf."

"No she said something about frog something or other in them." Philip said as Jessica sat down expecting treats.

Whooting like an owl, the meateater addressed Stefan and Leah with the same submissive gesture that the older dilophosaurs did to Aurora back on Isla Nublar. With it's body lowered and the throat shown in submission, Cinderella could almost see Jessica as just another pet begging for scraps at the table.

She wanted to chuckle at this realization, but it may be seen as bad form. Tossing a bit of scrap meat to Jessica, Steffan was repeating the behavior that strengthen the bond between the dinosaurs and the royal family. While extremely dangerous to do for wild animals, if one was trying to domesticate or possibly domesticate them then it was essential that the dinosaurs relied on those in charge for food. It was identical to how the mice and birds she had in her family's own home became her friend.

That that was how those without Aurora's gifts could learn to control these animals. And yes it was clear these dinosaurs were living animals and while part of the mystic of the word "dinosaur" may have been lost to some with seeing them this way, Cinderella found it all the more remarkable that they were animals. From a world long gone perhaps, but still natural creatures rather than unfathomable dragons. These were not monsters to be feared, but creatures to be respected.

Meanwhile Aurora hoped that Dr. Grant was in town at the time she called, or that she hadn't missed his call. Thankfully whatever forces of convenience worked the background of fairy tales seemed to be on her side today. Calling the general store would be expensive, but she would just underwrite it to John's expenses.

"Hello. Stillwater general store?" Aurora asked as she sat down at the phone.

"Yep how may I help you today?" The grizzled but pleasant voice of the store owner said on the other end.

"Yes it's Dr. Rose again. By chance is Dr. Grant in town today?"

"Why yes, in fact he made sure to be in today for your call. One moment." There was a slight shuffling on the other end of the line and Aurora breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hello Dr. Grant here." The voice on the other end was that of an older man, a bit blunt in tone as most Americans Aurora had met, but still very polite.

"Yes Dr. Rose. You may know of me from Hammond's company. I had a few questions for you, mainly about dinosaurs and you were the one person I felt could answer them for me."

"Yes I remember you. You focused research on bird communication and development. What can I do for you today?"

"Well a lot of my recent work is focused on growth and development, maturity rate if you would, and I was curious about how fast it would take dinosaurs to mature to sexual development."

"Oh that…well since you are familiar with birds then you know that the smaller the species the quicker they develop, but the big question we still are working out is how fast their metabolic processes are. See if they were hot blooded, meaning endothermic, then they would have a rather fast growth rate and probably a rather fast rate of sexual development. Maybe on the order of half a decade at most. Now many of my rivals would say they grew up rather slow like modern crocodilians but recently we started slicing fossil bones open and found that not only were many of these bones filled with hollow passages for airways, but also there were growth rings which seemed to indicate rapid growth much like birds and mammals which slowly tapered off in old age but never stopped completely."

At this Aurora grabbed for some parchment and started writing everything down. If her fears were realized then not only would they have many more compies than expected but also far greater numbers of every dinosaur showing up in short order. Great if you wanted to have a stable population, but animals in heat and rut were unpredictable and that frighten Aurora.

"And what sort of behavior would you expect dinosaurs to have during mating Dr. Grant? Is there any evidence of complex behavior or social structure in the fossil record?" Aurora asked with concern.

"Well with as rare skeletons are, and fossils in general, much less complete specimens, it is almost impossible to determine any sort of sexual dimorphism at this point. Not that dinosaurs wouldn't have it, but with as widely varied as they were and how long they survived on the planet as well as how different their closest living relatives of crocodilians and birds express such features, but I will say that likely there was some sort of distinction between males and females and they likely engaged in some sort of complex social behavior." Grant took a moment to think as he continued. "In fact a few years ago there was a famous discovery up near Glacier Montana were several hadrosaurs, you may know them as duckbills, called maiasaura had nesting sites that were used year after year and spaced in such a way that it looked like they were communal nesting."

"Like a flock of birds you mean?" Aurora asked with great interest.

"Exactly. Like penguins or flamingos. But as far as the complex social interactions of mating displays or what calls and display features they may have…that's not something that would fossilize."

"Makes sense. Thank you. I also was wondering if there were any preserved indication of use of gastroliths in dinosaurs and if so was there a preference to any one kind of rock over another?"

"You mean like say a chicken uses grit to grind seed? Well it is possible, but the difference for saying sure is determining what may have been a gastrolith and what is river water deposits that flooded into the specimen from whatever river they may have fallen into or washed downstream into. The big question becomes whether or not the rocks get pilled up in the ribs because the animal carried them with it inside them and they fell out as the guts decomposed, or if the river was carrying the rocks and the skeleton just trapped the rocks inside it."

Aurora nodded. She knew that dinosaurs used gastroliths, but yet she could see why there was no conclusive evidence by Grant's explanation.

"Also we can't tell if the water would have eroded the rocks or if the animals having them inside their stomach would do that." Grant continued. "Now crocodilians do eat rocks regularly, but that is to provide ballast, and certain birds keep small stones in their craw to help process seed and millet, but again nothing I've found or have heard about indicates conclusively dinosaurs used gastroliths."

"That makes sense. Thank you so much." Aurora continued to feverishly write down what she had heard. "Dr. Grant if I may continue to ask, are there any sort of clear indication of parental care in dinosaurs so far? Or do most dinosaurs lay their eggs and just leave the babies to their own?"

"Oh there is plenty of evidence of parental care in dinosaurs. Not just have we found communal nests, but like the birds mentioned before there was care put into the offspring as a lot of the fossilized baby dinosaurs we find in nests don't have fully formed legbones and would find it difficult to walk on those as the ends were very spongy and allowed for a lot of animal growth after hatching. I'd say that dinosaurs were every bit as careful with their offspring as any modern bird may be…outside of cookoos." Grant continued.

"As they don't take care of their own offspring." Aurora nodded. "Do we have any evidence of such activity in dinosaurs by chance?"

"Again sadly no." Grant sighed. He was actually enjoying these thoughtful questions. What may have been considered perhaps just another excursion to justify John Hammond investing in the university, underwriting the paleontological research, or perhaps just to show good faith in respecting his patron, Grant found himself instead in one of his favorite pastimes: detailed intellectual discussion on dinosaurs.

"It would be difficult enough just to find dinosaur nests and the odds of a lone nest preserving by itself. Much less be able to conclusively prove brood parasitism since you would need a somewhat developed youngster obviously different from the other young in the nest. And finding any sort of baby dinosaur is hard due to preservation bias against tiny bones and underdeveloped mineralization"

"Thank you very much Dr. Grant I appreciate your help and it was very helpful." Aurora politely said.

"Well you are most welcome. Why I have you on the phone I do have a question for you. I recently submitted a work to Mr. Hammond, I think it was titled "Juvenile Hyperspace" which detailed a lot of these issues with dinosaur nesting we discussed."

"Thank you very much Dr. Grant." Aurora continued to jot notes down as she

"It's a pleasure actually. Honestly you are probably one of most cordial of Hammond's people." Dr. Grant's voice indicating he was genuinely smiling on the other end. "So I have some questions for you if you don't mind."

"Certainly." Aurora replied. Enjoying this conversation more than she had expected.

"Well I made that publication as a complete system-wide study on bioforms in their native environment for the purposes of a museum he was constructing and was wondering if he was still interested in that prospect as we keep sending our fragmented fossils and have to make sure that these specimens are being housed properly."

This caught Aurora completely off-guard as she had no idea about the fossils Hammond had procured or what on Earth he would do with them. She only vaguely knew about amber and mosquitoes.

"I'm sorry Dr. Grant but I'm not sure about that part of the exhibit. I deal with living organisms and focus mainly on how close birds were to dinosaurs." Aurora was an honest woman, but she was also a princess and that took a lot of skill in the fine art of diplomacy. She didn't lie to Dr. Grant, but she couldn't break confidentiality agreements.

"Hence the questions about dinosaur growth and such." Dr. Grant said. "Well Dr. Rose it has been a pleasure, but dinosaur bones don't excavate themselves so I have to get going. If you have more questions for me you can sent letters or faxes to the university. I'll be out in the field most of the summer season but drop by my office about once a month or so. Hope I was helpful to you."

"Very much so, and thank you very much for your time. I will make sure the usual consultation fee is charged for your time." Aurora put the phone down and thought for a while. Dr. Grant didn't have that much to give her, more exposing the limits of paleontology, and Fauna was so giddy about this new adventure that she had flown off to try to find a way to fix the dinosaurs…but something was bugging Aurora in the back of her mind about the whole thing. Why had no one caught the extra number of dinosaurs if they were breeding?

Grant had given her a few good points though, and it clicked in a flash. While far from the first dinosaurs to be cloned by INGen, the compies were one of the smallest and they probably matured the fastest of all species outside of the orthnalia, a small planteater that was kept in a petting zoo like home for future guests. Yes it had a powerful bite, but then again so did goats and so the thought was it wasn't a danger to kids if treated right. But the compies how could.

"Rats." Aurora said, which was as much as she allowed herself to curse. But in that moment, she had her answer. Just as Jessica and Dianna had decimated the rather large rat population of the castle from time to time, the compies and who knows what other smaller carnivores had probably eradicated whatever rats Isla Nublar had.

The wheels within Aurora's mind whirled as she thought it thought. The islands had been found probably during the age of discovery, and rats had followed man along his travels from continent to continent aboard ships for centuries. Rare was it that islands didn't have rat problems after human discovery and incalculable bird species had been killed in Hawaii alone because of rodent expansion. Fast breeding, a high intelligence for a rodent, and tools almost custom made to adapt to most every environment made rats and mice the consummate survivalist mammals. And yet she had never seen a single one on Isla Nublar. Heck she thought she may have heard something on the island. At least some sort of small rodent in the command center or hotel buildings the crew used for rooms. But nothing. Then further realizations hit.

If the compies were breeding at a remarkable rate then what was keeping them in check? What would stop them from escaping out of their assaigned areas? If they had killed off all the feral rats on the island, or at least kept them highly contained, then what would happen if the food supply wasn't enough. Hammond could pay whatever food bill her wanted for the dinosaurs, but the compies were adaptable and if they were looking for food out from their normal ranges.

"They could get off the island." Aurora's thoughts shifted to fear for a moment. It was unlikely that the compies could get out of the park area they were kept in, but one oversight and it would come crashing down. Dr. Wu mentioned something about a lycine deficiency to Aurora as a precaution, but she was sure she misheard. Lycene as a hormone was required to live, but no animal made their own and got it from the environment in things such as lean protein or had gut bacteria make it for them. And they were breeding. That was one of the worst parts of the issue.

Fauna was right, they needed to breed to have a sustainable genetic diversity, but without some control of them then they likely could get out and…no no Aurora stopped herself. Right now they were on Isla Nublar and none of the dinosaurs she knew about could escape from the park enclosure. Both dock yards were sealed behind massive double electrified fencing and the animals were enclosed in the park area away from the tourists. That was clear after it was discovered that compies were venomous.

Aurora calmed herself as she thought it through more carefully. The raptors had their new pen so they weren't going to get out anytime soon. The Dilophosaurs were always in their enclosure and so behind locked double doors that they couldn't maneuver through. Rexy was in her paddock and was not going to get out of that any time soon. And then any fear of the free-roaming herbivores getting off island wasn't likely as they were way too big to escape notice.

Aurora calmed herself as she compared what could happen with what was likely to happen and the animals of Jurassic Park were not getting off that island unless someone carried them. That was how Jessica, Dianna, Betsy, and a handful of other dinosaurs lived in her kingdom. She had a few herbivores more to list, but the fact was she was so far okay.

"And most of the bigger ones are only starting to show signs of sexual maturity, so we caught this in plenty of time." Aurora tried to calm herself as she thought things more clearly. "And unlike rodents dinosaurs probably only breed once a year so it's not a huge danger if some of the dinosaurs are breeding." She continued her thought experiment while walking around the phone room and putting her finger to the side of her head. She postulated that birds and crocodilians have limited fertility periods and dinosaurs likely were like their relatives. But this calming mindset got shot down again as Aurora came to another realization.

"But the compies were probably breeding before I was hired." That was shocking, and somewhat terrifying, but made complete sense and wasn't the worst case situation. "But why had none of the animal counting systems caught the increased number of dinosaurs?" Aurora continued to ponder. She wasn't in the worst possible situation yet.

*ring*

*ring*

Blinking a few times, Aurora was pulled from her mental state to realize that now she was getting a phone call.

"Hello?"

"Hey Rose, Charming here. Cinderella's not Snows's."

"Oh yes what can I do for you today my friend? Your wife is here if you wished to talk with her."

"Oh that would be great, but I wanted to let you know that she doesn't need to fly out to Orlando soon. Seems that since you were out of town for a while the Disney people wanted to have you and Philip meet their newest princess Ariel and her husband Eric, and give them a tour of your castle and a run down of how things are done in Burbank." This shocked Aurora. Disney mostly left their kingdoms alone, may occasionally visit to trade goods or to have their new executives brought up to speed on the real history of Disney fairytale lands, but never had they asked to tour.

"Really? Do they have a date that they would be expecting to come over or…" Aurora couldn't really keep the nervousness in her voice. Her only hope was that Charming thought she was worried about the castle be in need of a good spring cleaning.

"I'd say maybe a day or so. They are still trying to introduce them to the concept of airplanes and you know how that usually goes." Charming said. "Also falsified identity cards, getting Snow and her Charming a flight out to where you are. So I would say you have plenty of time to get the place in order…especially knowing my wife's fastidious nature when cleaning. I swear she was a drill instructor at some point."

That got Aurora to chuckle a bit. "No just a lot of time volunteering with the USO. Are they asking to stay here at the castle during their visit? Or are they going to try to put them up in a hotel room?"

"I know it's your father's home, and may be a huge violation of your privacy and such…but as neither Eric or Ariel understand the modern world and they are supposed to be kind of family to us, would you be willing to house the two of them? Just for a few days and you won't have to do this by yourself."

"Talk about a fish out of water situation…" Aurora said as she made a small joke to herself. Charming burst out laughing on the other end.

"Exactly. You know she's a mermaid right? Ariel I mean." Charming said trying to regain his composure.

"Cinderella mentioned she was, but very unlike those of Neverland. Sorry that probably was a terrible joke at the girl's expense."

"No no, that's exactly how they are doing the movie actually. We will go into details later on it, and don't worry I'll gladly help with anything you need, but you can understand right? Trust me I would rather have them learn about the modern world as soon as possible. It is the higher ups are worried about leaked content and the studios are just now getting back on track after so many years."

"Well I would be glad to have them come over, and we can discuss rooms, board, and tours when you get here." Aurora sighed.

"Oh thank you Rose. They are very wonderful people and I know that they are looking forward to meeting you. I can't thank you enough. Would you be willing to get Cinderella on the phone? I would love to tell her myself."

Aurora nodded. "Sure one moment." Aurora put the phone on the table and rushed out the room.

"Cinderella your hubby's on the phone." Aurora called as she let her friend answer the call.

Aurora took a moment to collect herself and think about what was going on. She now had a whole new set of problems to deal with. First impressions, food, and the fact there were living dinosaurs in her kingdom that had to be kept secret while the new movie had to be kept under wraps. Who said being a princess was easy obviously never had the job.

"Well how did the call to this Dr. Grant go my dear?" King Stefan asked his daughter as he patted her on the shoulder. "Helpful to the situation at hand."

"Yes, but we now have a new problem daddy. How many guest rooms do we have here?"

To be continued. Any feedback is deeply appreciated.


	6. Chapter 6

Jurassic Park What if Chapter 6

The Pack Comes First

Disney owns all of their products including their versions of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Gummi Bears, etc.

Jurassic Park and all such properties are owned by Universal Studios and Michael Crichton's estate.

I am not making a dime off of this but please be so kind as to leave a review for me as I really love feedback and hope that many enjoy

*WARNING* this chapter has some gory scenes in it very much in line with real life and the novel of Jurassic Park. Please be aware of that as I will not gloss over these bits out of artistic integrity.

The scene opens on a normal morning in Los Angeles.

Seeing an overly excited young girl wide-eyed and joyful is not an uncommon sight at LAX. Many tourists from around the world, especially smaller cities and towns, find the massive airport to be a city itself with people and cultures around the world traveling through to be as if walking into a completely alien world. In the case of this particular young lady it was literally so.

She was a younger woman, with bright red hair and large blue eyes wearing a simple blue dress with a lighter blue blouse with black vest that flowed as she danced from one curiosity to another. There was a childlike fascination to her about every item in her sight. Her bright eyes were only matched by her bright smile as even the most seemingly mundane of items seemed to her like a great lost treasure. And the people, all the various people of different tastes, economic status, skin pigments, and nationalities was to this young woman a sight of what seemed to be wonder as she looked at all the different clothing and listened to all the dialects.

She was followed by a dark haired man who looked like he was in his early twenties and was left shaking his head at the antics of the younger woman.

"Having fun?" The man smiled as he held the girl close. The girl shook her head vigorously up and down as she gazed on all the stores and restaurants. She almost completely ignored her companion as she found facination with every new discovery with the same fervor any treasure hunter would over a vast golden horde.

"Hey Ariel are you having fun?" at this the young woman snapped her attention to the man leaning over her. She then bumped into her partner and giggled as she was greeted with a warm smiling face and embrace and her treasure hunting was temporarily halted.

"Eric you startled me." Ariel said as she hugged him and then tapped his head playfully.

"Well you seemed lost in your own little world." He said to her. "Though I think I finally understand what you felt like when you first walked on dry land." He said scratching his head. He was then dragged along by the whims of his energetic wife as the girl now pulled him into her spontaneous treasure hunting.

"Aren't you excited for this new world Eric?"

"I am, but also seriously confused." Eric said as he continued to use the free time to wander around this microcosm of the modern world in a land completely alien to his kingdom.

"Pardon. I know that you probably still wanted to see the sights, but we do need to get going now." The one interrupting the couple was a rather business dressed individual who had the attitude and look that couldn't have screamed middle management harder if he had a nametag with this title on it. "There will be plenty of time to explore during your visit though."

The couple found themselves escorted to a long white limo in the parking lot. Ariel was extremely wide-eyed seeing all the cars go by as she looked out of the windows. Eric was more lost than his spouse at the scale of things before him.

"I know that this whole situation is a bit of a surprise from your own world." The man in the suit said. Ariel was seemingly distracted as she was feeling up and down the leather seats and looking around at the various amenities within. She was so in awe of the modern world that she didn't even notice that the limo had a few more occupants. Specifically, two other men and one lady who were politely sitting on bench seats opposite the door.

The young lady in question had curly black hair and a very pale complexion with red lips and bright brown eyes. Of the two men one seemed to only be reaching the age of twenty with light brown hair with a rather pronounced lump of bangs while the other was a rather strait cut jet-black haired man of what appeared to be middle to late twenties. The younger seemed more laid back while the older looked as if someone had taken a classic G.I. Joe figure and forced him to wear Ken's clothes.

"Well someone is certainly excited." The more relaxed of the two said with a smirk. "Charming." He offered his hand in friendship to Eric and Ariel.

"I guess you could say it is." Eric said trying to absorb the world around him. "I am still getting used to the idea that flying machines are real in this world." He smiled back. "The name's Eric."

"Charming." The other man said, somewhat uncomfortably. Almost as if waiting for something he didn't like to happen.

"I guess so…."

Ariel chuckled at his confusion to almost the point of full-blown laughter. "Dear that is his name." She said to Eric who had a moment of self-revelation.

"Oh…" Eric said with a blank stare for a second and then sheepishly shrugging. "I thought you were named Charming." Eric said looking at the other dark-haired guy who was not holding his head in his hand chuckling.

"It is, which causes no end of confusion." The older looking Charming said with a smile.

"Oh I think it's just precious." The young lady said in a very cute and almost childish way.

"Eric, Ariel, please let me introduce the two who started our movie series about 45 years ago." The man in the suit seemed to relax a bit as he smiled and pointed to the younger seeming couple in the limo.

"45 years ago?" Eric said in shock. "Forgive me but how are you…"

"How do I not look a day over twenty and my lovely lady not over maybe 16?" the lighter haired Charming finished Eric's question.

"I'm not that young looking am I dear?" Snow asked politely and in a very passive way. It was odd, but she had such an air of calmness to her that all those around her just seemed…relaxed perhaps. The young lady would have been almost overlooked entirely due to how unassuming she was, except that something otherworldly pacified those around her like some sort of gravitational pull to calmness.

"I really hope you don't mind my asking, but how in the world does this make sense?" Eric was completely dumbfounded at the whole situation.

"Well perhaps I can best explain it, since the two of us were there at the beginning." The younger looking man said as he indicated to his wife. "At the start of this adventure a man by the name of Walt Disney was trying to promote his small animation studio that he had built from working for another company called Warner Brothers. This was during a serious economic depression and so the rush to compete for promoting his cartoons meant he was willing to push the envelope into whatever new and inventive ways of creating he could. The look for a spark of something new as it were, a unique flare that he could use to breathe life into his artwork, led his innovators to accidentally discover magic is real."

"So they tried casting a spell on this animation of theirs?" Ariel asked in not absolutely focused intensity.

"Yes and no." Snow White politely replied. "It apparently started by messing with putting sound to animation and that certain frequencies of radiowaves as they were called, seemed to make the ink in the cells come more to life."

"Radiowaves?" Eric asked confused.

"You saw people walking around with those big boxes listening to music?" The older looking Charming asked and the newest addition to the Disney company. "They let people get signals from the air called radio."

"So these 'radiowaves' somehow connected to the magic from where you are from?"

"A bit more detail may make it have more sense." The middle manager pipped in again. "While this world has no magic of it's own, the constant telling and retelling of these stories feed the magic in your worlds. The older the story the more magic and humans are great generators of such with the imagination each person has. So when the original artists one day were feeding these waves into the art it inadvertently tapped into the parallel reality sustained from the magic imbued into the story by the story tellers of this world."

"Which you can imagine the shock of someone from what would be decades into the future showing up through a door and talking about things you had no idea about. It was a rather…confusing time as I am sure you can understand having just gone through it yourself." Snow's Charming said.

"But after realizing what had actually occurred and both of us curious about the other world, we agreed to act as the models for their movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Snow added. "And as a mutual agreement the copious magic of our world was filled into their movie and made the work the animators and actors put in even more wonderful."

"But why not just take the magic, since you seem able to do so?" Ariel asked confused.

"Well one we aren't thieves. And second, we found that connecting our world to others helped bring a small amount of magic into our world briefly or in small spots that are linked to the worlds we draw from. Hence why the parks are seemingly so magical. Walt thought that by sharing with others we gained a deeper understanding and appreciation for people and the more wonderful the story made the more in awe others would be. Which is why we wanted to share our world with yours and show you others who share this link."

"So kind of like any trade deal I take it?" Eric smiled.

"In a way. But due to the vast discrepancy between technology levels between each of our worlds and this one we limit our trades carefully. Medical technologies, books, textiles, and a slow introduction of electricity." The older Charming said listing off things like items on a list.

"Seems like that would be a lot to offer to our world." Ariel said as she was intently listening to the conversation.

"It is, especially with the modern chemical industry and us mainly having very little to do outside of showing up in the park from time to time, record a few lines for our movies, and generally promoting the Disney brand. We often are left to our own devices."

"Okay so I know we are royals, and we all want to make things better for our people, but what about the unspoken issue that countries usually have to deal with when trade doesn't work?" Eric asked taking a more serious tone.

"You mean warfare?" The older Charming asked. Eric nodded in confirmation.

"Well for starters Disney is a company without any military arm of any sort and the United States is a republic and not a monarchy…as well as completely ignorant of our deal with Disney." The older Charming smiled back. "If I may ask what year are you from?"

"The year of our Lord 1840." Eric smiled back.

"Our world is about the same, give or take a decade or so. Well for starters modern weapons would absolutely ruin our worlds and a World War and the weapon developments from a decades long Cold War have led to your average soldier of a modern army having more personal firepower than a whole squad from our times."

"That is…downright terrifying…" Eric said in shock.

"Now please we don't…" That this point the business clad man looked like he was about to sweat bullets.

"Well when you have a single man with a automatic rifle with more ammo capacity than a squad of muzzle-loaders that can be. Honestly the scale of destruction I have seen in these modern times make warfare in my world look like too many people tried to start a fox-hunt. But for all the destructive potential of this time there is also a lot of reason to hope. Infections and malnutrition that led to untold suffering in my kingdom are almost gone, the standard of living is almost equal to that of this time and the level of education of even the most poor is higher than I could imagine. Infections that would kill hundreds now are treated as easily survivable." The older charming thought for a moment. "And I don't fear an invasion from these people no matter how powerful their weapons are, because I have met many of them who are soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen…"

"Airmen?" Ariel asked in confusion.

"The flying craft you were on isn't the only type of airplane built. Some have more…lethal capacities…but I have seen the people who serve and they aren't viewed as soldiers in my time were as conscripts. I've seen them with their families in DisneyWorld and how so many from around the world can come together able to see complete strangers as people. They view weapons and warfare completely differently from the conquests of Europe and having lived through the Second World War and how they treated their defeated enemy with compassion rather than vengeance after the fighting was done…I honestly couldn't not want to be part of this and help give back to a world who gives the very magic that keeps my family and kingdom going."

"You really need to get a job as a screenwriter." The younger Charming smiled.

"Well it is true. And you saw even more than I."

"Okay so don't have to worry about war or forcing terms on my people." Eric said with a smile. "So tell me why the gap between the last princess film and you wanting to making a film about us?"

The older Disney cast took a collective sigh.

"You want to explain or should I?" The Charmings asked eachother.

"I will try to explain as best as possible." Snow spoke up, to which she was given the floor without question. "See the last film Walt Disney ever made was made to be an artistic masterpiece in both animation and in music with all the aspects that had worked well before. A princess, a prince, likeable characters, a great evil to overcome, and even had combative heroics for the watchers to gasp at. It is so sad that it didn't live up to all the cost." Snow said with a very sad face.

"What happened?" Ariel asked with hand over mouth.

"Politics and culture changed sadly. Aurora did her absolute best in her performance and Philip was actually a great hero…but sadly a growing political movement thought that it was 'sending bad messages to young girls' and after two successful stories with similar plots, mine and Cinderellas, the public seemed to have tired of princess movies." Snow said with a heavy heart. "And with Walt's death soon after the magic seemed to have gone. Many movies and advancements to the parks kept the magic strong in Disneyland and Disneyworld, but only enough to just keep things going. It wasn't till the recent profit of 'The Great Mouse Detective' and the TV shows like Gummi Bears and Ducktales that the imagineres had the ability to try and bring that same level of magic into a film, which is how they came into your world I would suspect."

Snow smiled at Ariel and Eric in one of the most genuinely friendly smiles she could.

"Which also explains why more of the movie is about this lovely lady rather than me." Eric smiled draping his arm over his wife's shoulder.

"Hey just the way it is. In princess films the girl get's top billing." The younger charming shot back sarcastically.

"Tell me about it." The older of the two Charmings added. "I think I got a dance number and that was about it. Philip gets to fight a dragon and I was a plot device. Wouldn't trade Cinderella or this life for anything though."

"I am not complaining." Eric kissed Ariel on the cheek. "She's amazing so I won't mind."

Ariel blushed about as red as her hair at this and giggled a bit. "So where exactly have we been heading to?"

"Aurora's castle is located within the magic kingdom of Disneyland here in California." The guy in the suit said. "The entrance looks like a scaled-down version of the actual castle. It is from there that the magic of her world is fixed to this one. Whenever you get your own attraction or show the same thing happens."

"Should we get formally attired before we meet them?" Ariel asked looking herself over.

"Oh you are fine as you are." Snow said. "Trust me the overly formal attire get stuffy wearing them over and over again for years and years. Besides Rose is the kind that would go barefoot all day if she could."

"Still wouldn't wear your seashell top on your first meeting." Eric retorted, earning him a light smack on the arm.

"And we also asked King Gregor if he would mind having Calla join us." The guy in the suit said going through his briefcase again. "Since this is the first time having everyone in the same place at the same time for a very long time."

"Oh this is going to be fun." The younger Charming said as he popped open a soda and tried to enjoy the drive from LAX to Disneyland.

On the other end of the trip we find the massive castle of Princess Aurora in a complete flurry of motion as just about every able bodied person was cleaning, baking, setting tables, preparing rooms, and making the entire kingdom grounds as happy a place as possible for the next addition to the Disney royalty. And this meant everyone, even those not responsible for cleaning, where busy doing stuff.

"Cinderella are you sure you want to work on the cleaning?" Queen Leah said as she was going over the food preparations. "You are our guest afterall."

"Please your majesty I couldn't think of just standing around and not helping. And if my extensive time forced to clean my home from top to bottom was of any good, I may as well help make Ariel and Eric feel at home." Cinderella couldn't be dissuaded from her mission in cleaning everything in sight from top to bottom, so Leah just smiled and hoped that she had enough meat for the meeting. That and her husband and brother-in-law didn't start another pointless food fight while the court minstrel got black-out drunk again. She had heard he was tuning his lute in the distance, but she wouldn't trust the guy to keep sober longer than needed.

"If you wouldn't mind me asking, do you know where my daughter is?" Leah asked while keeping tabs on all the items for the party.

"Last I saw her, Aurora was setting up ribbons and streamers with a small grew of helpers." Cinderella said as she looked up at her hostess.

"Group of helpers?" Leah asked in confusion.

"They may not be able to carry coconuts, but it seems that those little birds are great at setting up ribbons." Cinderella smiled.

"Coconuts?" Leah asked in confusion.

"I don't know, she said it was some sort of comedy she once watched years ago." Cinderella said as she moved to the next item to clean.

"Well I'm sure that it will look beautiful…uff excuse me I am so sorry." Leah apologized as she bumped into someone as she and turned around without looking where she was going and bumped into a rather broad shouldered individual.

"Oh no no I should apologize. I am sorry I didn't speak up sooner that I was here." He was an older man with a white beard and mustache and a bright smile on his face. Possessing a broad nose and white hair under his golden crown with a fabric of purple within the golden headpiece, and dressed with a fur-lined coat and red shirt with golden hem he did make an impressive presence.

"King Gregor a pleasure." Queen Leah smiled as she collected herself. "I didn't hear that you had arrived."

"I completely understand. We are all busy trying to make a good impression." Gregor smiled as he nodded to the queen of the castle. "Speaking of which, my daughter Calla has joined us for this meeting."

The girl that Gregor introduced was a lovely and smiling girl in her young teens with a head full of bright blonde hair that seemed slightly untamable with a long braid that reached all the way down her back. She was dressed in a blue dress with golden trim and blue slippers. She had a kind of spunky air to her and her smile, while honest, was very mischievous. Sort of like she was looking where some fun may be had.

"Your grace." Calla bowed politely to her host, who smiled an nodded back.

"A pleasure." Queen Leah explained. "I apologize if my mind was somewhere else as I have been trying to make this place perfect for the meeting. Please let me know if I can make your visit any easier." Leah said as she collected her thoughts again.

"Cinderella is that you?" Calla asked as she saw the other princess hard at work.

"Indeed, care to help?" The older of the two said tossing a rag to the younger. The younger smirked and started looking around.

"Give me a lift and I'll get up the beams before you finish the floors." Cinderella smirked at Calla's challenge.

"You are on."

Leah looked at Gregor for a moment and smiled. "She certainly is a rambunctious one isn't she?"

"Oh she is very free spirited, and always in motion. I couldn't be prouder of her honestly." Gregor smiled with joy. "She excels at everything she tries and she is smart as a whip."

"I sense an and in there somewhere." Leah replied to the other royal.

"Well I could continue to laud her abilities all day, but I fear Sir Tucksford may have raided your pantry before I could stop."

"Oh father, you know Cavin and him are unloading the carriage." Calla said as she was hanging on the top of a stone column removing the dust and cobwebs.

"Cavin?" Leah asked.

"A young page, and a dear friend of Calla's who I thought would gain a lot from joining us. If you don't mind that is."

"Not at all my friend. Our home is open to you always." King Stefan greatted Gregor. "Welcome welcome…they do know that they don't need to do the housework right? We do have staff for that."

"Just trying to be of help." Cinderella smiled and got back to work.

"Is there anything I can do to be of assistance as well?" Gregor asked, a big smile on his face.

"Actually yes. The cooks informed me that we may need more meat for dinner and I was wondering if you care to go boar hunting? I have heard of your boasts as a hunter are rather famous."

"Boar hunting? I would be honored." Gregor smiled, somewhat sheepishly, and his daughter knowingly smirking at this.

"Splendid. Let me find my aloof son-in-law and Hubert and we will be back before you know it." Stefan smiled as he led his friend who was waving at his nodding daughter.

"What was that about? And are you just going to let the guys leave like that leaving us to finish the cleaning?" Cinderella asked looking at the other two women in the room.

"My father on another hunting trip encountered a boar, a rather large one as big as a wagon, who nearly gored him, Sir Tucksford, and my friend Cavin. Thankfully they survived but to this day father has been more…humble about such bragging."

"And don't worry about them going out to hunt." Leah smiled. "Knowing my dear Stefan he probably wanted to get everyone else out of the castle so that they weren't in the way."

"So what do you expect will happen?" Cinderella asked the queen.

"Oh I'm sure they will be back in time, may not have anything to show for it but will be back in plenty of time." Leah said. "So you girls really want to help get this place in order?"

Aurora too was busy managing her part of the castle, or at least her part of the party preparations. Flying through the main hall were several species of song birds and a raptor or two, the avian kind, which carried streamers and ribbons from one place to another while squirrels busied themselves fixing them in place.

"A little overboard for a simple business meeting isn't it my dear?" Aurora heard a rather familiar voice say playfully behind her as her husband had carried in another arm-load of what looked like party supplies.

"Well you make them feel special your way dear, and I'll do it in mine." Aurora smiled back. "And besides with all this pageantry we may not have to explain the fact living dinosaurs are now in our home."

"Oh right that would be important." Philip relented. Moving Betsy out to the back area would be easy enough as a stegosaurus would be easily distracted by food, even some of the dinosaurs that Cinderella had not met yet were out there including one triceratops and a young ankylosaurus. And they mainly just ate all day and caused no problems. The two resident carnivorous dinosaurs though needed running room and as smart as Dianna was she would be far too curious not to try and investigate the new arrivals.

Said raptor and her dilophosaurus packmate were currently gnawing on the last bits of meat from the bones of a large deer next to some of the royal hunting dogs doing the same. A pack that feeds together socialized together afterall and the dinosaurs just saw the four-legged bark machines as an extension of the same pack as Philip and the Alpha Aurora.

"Philip oh Philip where are you boy?" Hubert called out to his son.

"In here father, just helping with the decorations." The prince said handing off the next set of banners to a few birds that followed Aurora's instructions on where they were to place them.

"Oh there you are. Good good." Hubert's usual over the top mannerisms were getting the better of him as he slapped his son on the back. "Now my boy come come we need to go bag us a boar." Hubert said pulling Philip's arm so hard he nearly caused the prince to fall over.

"Wait what is going on now?" Philip said, absolutely confused at this. "I thought we were setting up banners for our guests." Hubert, never one for restraint or common sense, just decided to pull off his son for some male bonding time.

"Dear where are you going?" Aurora asked as she cried out in confusion.

"That's what I want to know." Philip said digging in his heals a bit. "So if you could hold up a minute father and just tell me what you want before you rip the decorations I would appreciate it."

"Oh come come my boy just a bit of male bonding over a boar hunt. I am sure Aurora and her friends can finish the decorations." Hubert tried to drag his son again.

"Just go dear." Aurora shook her head as the hunting dogs jumped up at hearing the words "Boar" and started barking at the top of their lungs. The birds just took the stuff out of Philip's hands and the young man just gave up and followed his dad on the hunt.

Aurora shook her head and looked at her therapod pets. "You can go too, just don't get caught."

Dianna pulled her head back and darted her look right towards Aurora. A small hawk-like screech emitted from the raptor as she jumped up to her feet and discarded the bone she had been nibbling scraps from. The new coat of feathers were still a bit for her to adjust to. Shaking her head and flanks a bit, Dianna took a moment to look herself over. Her black colored feathers looked like those of a raven but with red tiger like stripes. And what parts of Dianna that weren't covered in feathers were covered in dark scales ranging from pebbly on her head and muzzle to kind of blocky armor-like bits on her toes and lower legs.

The whole effect was one of almost demon-like terror when mixed with her sharp claws and bright red eyes. An odd choice for the loyal companion to any princess, and yet from the moment Dianna had hatched within the castle walls, this dinosaur was lauded with nothing but affection and trust. She knew she was special, and sometimes was an attention junkie, but she was park of a pack that cared about her. She was smart, exceedingly smart, so she knew that she didn't look like any of the other members of her pack. Her eyes could see brighter and with more range of colors than human eyes could dream, and she could see that none of the other pack members had the same kind of skin and day to day they seemed to change their "skin" in many ways while her own was a dazzling ranged of colors in her eyes as she could see every subtle change the light caught on her feathers and older scaley skin as if it was the ribbons of color oil makes on the surface of water. The only one similar to her in appearance was her 'sister' Jessica. In Dianna's mind her sister was slower perhaps, more willing to use brute force to solve a problem than make cunning plans to trap prey. But Jessica had range in that spit of hers and so make it easier to disable a foe for Dianna to get into a perfect killing position.

Jessica though wasn't as curious as her sister but wanted to keep proving herself just as much to the pack. As a dilophosaurus she was bulkier and not as quick, but far more capable of tanking hits. She also knew she was different than all the others around her, but her mind never thought that she wasn't part of a group of oddly shaped dinosaurs. The special treatment she got from Philip sort of made her feel like a daddy's girl…if such a comparison would work in a dinosaur's mind. But while not looking like her alpha or other pack members, she was loyal and always looking to do something worthy of praise from Aurora. Fluffing her membranous skin-flaps for a moment, the Jurassic aged hunter stretched out her limbs and kept her eyes locked on Aurora for instructions.

As for the royal hunting dogs, they too were part of the pack. Dianna and Jessica knew their scent as such and saw that they would hunt in group tactics too, but never before had the two prehistoric hunters actually been part of a full family hunt, and both Jessica and Dianna were salivating at the notion. Hunting meant food, bringing down food meant praise, praise meant worth, and all that probably meant more attention and maybe a reward for their success.

"Just keep an eye on them okay." Aurora said stroking each of her pets behind the head. "Just in case something unexpected happens. And make sure they don't see you." Aurora made hooting and screeching sounds that conveyed this message perfectly to her companions.

Jessica hooted and Dianna screeched in understanding. Dianna shot off, knowing exactly what to do. In a shot Dianna and Jessica raced out of the room heading towards the stables. Their dinosaur minds may not have appreciated the need to keep themselves from being seen from the guests, but instead if they were to act as the outer barrier to head off the prey then so be it.

"Well at least I won't have to worry about them for a while." Aurora said as she got back to work. Knowing that she soon would have guests, the princess didn't waste a moment in getting the last bit of work completed.

The scene shifts to that of a young boy of perhaps 11 years of age with a tussle of brown hair with brown eyes wearing tan brown sleaves and leggings with a green over-shirt and a simple rope belt tied around his waist.

"Are you sure we need all of these crates Sir. Tuxford?" He asked straining a bit trying to lift the rather heavy trunks up the stairs to the guest rooms.

"Of course lad, we have to make a good impression on these people." The knight in question was wearing silver armor sans helmet and had a rather large bushy red mustache with equally red hair that looked like three lit matches coming out of his head. "So we have to look our best at dinner at the very least. And a few gifts for them as well."

"You brought another entire set of armor with you on this trip?" Cavin asked in confusion as he dumped the trunk on the floor of the guest room.

"Course lad. Don't think we aren't going to get dirty around here right?" Sir Tucksford just smiled at the page as the young man used his oversized sleeve to clear his brow and head back down the stairs to grab more stuff.

A few moments later Cavin was back at the job of unloading stuff and wasn't watching too carefully where he was going, nearly bumping into someone as he had another armload of gear.

"Oh sorry didn't see you." Cavin explained sheepishly, trying to not cause a scene.

"Hey kiddo, how is it going?" A familiar face and voice greeted him.

"Oh Philip, or your highness I…"

"Cavin I told you just call me Philip." The prince replied. "Look the cooks said we needed some more meat for the table. Want to join the rest of the guys on a boar hunt?"

"Really? I get to come along?" His boyish joy raditating from the huge smile on his face.

"Sure, come on I'll find you a horse." Philip smiled back. "Sir Tuxford you can leave the rest of your carriage for now, we have a boar to hunt."

"What a splendid idea your magistey, well I remember the last time Cavin joined King Gregor and I on a boar hunt."

"How did that go?" Philip asked as he headed to the stable to wrangle up horses for everyone…his own father needing a clydesdale at this point.

"It kind of broke a lot of stuff, King Gregor rode it for a while, and we eventually got it to go falling off a cliff. It was as big as a wagon after all." Cavin honestly said.

"As big as a wagon?" Philip said smirking in disbelief.

"It is true. Honest." Cavin said worried now he had offended his host.

"Relax. You know I am willing to believe you on that." Philip said, acting almost like a big brother to the page.

"Really?"

"After all the things I've seen; I am willing to believe you."

The time for preparing a boar hunt was quick, and none of the hunting party realized that four eyes stealthfully were watching them as they rode out into the forest. The proud boasting of the men with spears and sabers, arrows and bows, combined with the howls of eager hunting dogs made such a clatter that two more hunters went unnoticed. Following far behind with eagle eyes, Dianna and Jessica went completely unnoticed by anyone.

"Will more be joining us on this party Stefan?" Gregor asked pleasantly. "Wasn't sure if Arthur was coming as well."

"I am not sure, but since this will be a few days maybe he will join us next time." Stefan said, riding deeper into the forests, those far from Aurora's old home though.

"Knowing him, probably on some sort of lesson or whatnot from Merlin." Hubert joked. His huge girth jiggling as he did so.

Following a few odd footprints, pulled hairs, and scratches on wood made from the tusk of a wild hog, they knew they reached the right place.

"How about we let the hounds go? Probably far enough to get a good scent at this point." Philip said as he pulled back on the reins letting Samson slow down a bit.

"Sounds good. Let's see what they find." Sir Tuxford agreed and the dogs ran off to get a scent trail. Didn't take long for a good scent to come their way as this was a magical world full of life and a diverse ecosystem with more animals than thought possible. At this point the men were slow on their horses with boar spears at the ready.

Having learned a valuable lesson in not being over confident, Cavin carefully kept his eyes open for the wild beast.

"Relax Cavin." Philip smiled. "We are hunting boar not going to war."

"Sorry, just…"

"The lad's caution is my fault." Gregor said. "Don't hold it against him as our last hunting trip was quite the adventure."

"So I have been told." Philip said as the hounds finally growled as they flushed a very large boar out from hiding. A rather familiar looking and angry boar.

"I say is that?" Gregor's loyal knight said in shock.

"That or a family member." Gregor said with spear raised. Mounted on a horse he knew that he had more force to give behind his throw and hoped to kill the thing quickly.

A while boar is no easy prey, though it is a common one. In an age of projectile weapons limited to throwing or launching from a bow, the solid mass of a Eurasian Boar is a dangerous prize. Tusks that and rip flesh open to the bone, and the strength in their upper body to throw a man into the air, this was no family farm hog.

"Careful. Circle around and try to get a good shot into the flanks." Stefan said as he tried to get a good hit into the beast from the side, hit the legs or pin or hit organ tissue.

"Don't get too close." Hubert said, showing that he did have some skill with a melee weapon outside of a swordfish. "That thing is a terror."

Philip and Cavin found themselves face to face with the animal and in rage and terror it made a charge to them. Philip first tried to thrust his spear right into the thing's face to stop it while the other men would stab from the side, but as four spears jutted into the flesh of the boar, the thing bolted to the side and Philip's mark was off only wounding the eye. Cavin though used this to his advantage and pulled his horse back a bit before running towards the hogg and throwing the spear deep into the neck of his target. The blade dug deep into the throat and the special barbs of a boar spear caught on the struggling thing. Cavin found himself tossed to the ground with his spear broken, but himself okay.

"CAVIN!" Gregor yelled as he saw the page fall. The total of six spears quickly ending the boar's life as the thing suffocated and exsanguinated in one blow. "Cavin are you okay?" Gregor asked as he jumped form his horse and started to run towards the youth.

"Oh I'm fine, just a little scratched up. Did I…did I do that?" Cavin said looking at the expired kill before him.

"Son you did excellently." Stefan smiled. "I say this deserves a standing ovation." Before Cavin could enjoy his honor though, he found himself lifted up by the scruff of his shirt.

"Hey what are you doing?" Cavin asked, trying to reach keep the hidden flask of Gummi Berry juice hidden from view.

"Well now isn't this a nice surprise." An extremely large man with only one eye and a mass of red hair said while holding a rather large tree branch as a club. "Here I was scouting out a new place for me and my men, maybe even kill that wild boar for the camp, but this is even better." He laughed with complete delight at the situation.

"Kerwin you fiend let the boy go or you will face my steel." Gregor said, at least recognizing the man who he had banished from his lands. At this all the men drew their swords and what remained of their spears ready for a real fight on their hands.

"I would be willing to risk it. But I think those hunting dogs of yours would fetch a better price that this little runt would." The barbarian joked as he was now flanked by the rest of is men. A fat one with a blue shirt, a rather strong one with black hair and beard, and a smaller one in a green shirt and leggings.

"Bruzzer, Rocket, Bubbles I think these kings need a lesson in manners." The big one said as he started to charge for a fight. What he wasn't expecting, what none of them were in fact, was an approaching sound of russling leaves and an odd hooting noise from the treeline.

"What's that? More friends of yours?" Kerwin joked. "Bubbles go see who they are, and no funny business or this kid gets it."

"Stay strong Cavin." Stefan said, letting this play out a bit before risking Cavin's wellbeing.

Bubbles, the rather large and not very bright man that he was, started lumbering over to the noise, getting out of sight in the larger trees. It was then that a hideous scream shot out from the man followed by a terrifying screech like some huge bird of prey. The branches were a flurry of rocking motion as the voice of Bubbles sounded out in gasping breaths gargling as if drowning in something. Then it stopped in an errie silence, a small trickle of blood the only sign of what happened.

"Bubbles?" The leader yelled as from the other side of the forest a strange splotched green creature approached. It had two crests on its head and was covered in dappled green and brown feathery extensions with white lines. The movement was so unlike that of anything most of the men had seen, and it approached tilting its head from side to side as it walked on two legs and hooted while it seemed to sniff the air.

"What is that thing?" The smallest of the group asked as he pulled out a sword.

"I don't know, but it killed Bubbles so I will…" The man started to charge at the creature, tossing Cavin to the ground almost to the boar he had just killed. With club branch high, the one-eyed barbarian was too enraged to do much more that try to kill this thing.

Before Kerwin could get close though, the thing pulled back its head and a huge frill shot out followed by hissing like a snake. In an instant it snapped its head back and shot a huge glob of black goo right into Kerwin's face. Instantly the man stopped as a horrible pain worst than when he lost his first eye shot right through him. He screamed cry to terrible that the birds in the trees flew away in flocks.

"AAAAAHAAA" Kerwin said rolling to the ground crying so hard he could feel the tears rolling down his face. But he couldn't see. His whole world just gone in an instant as he fumbled around on the ground trying to remove what had hit him. The feeling of cooling sludge in his fingers was met with the tingling sensation of nerves that seemed to be falling asleep.

Before the others reacted, Philip drew his sword, had Samson jump over the boar, and in one fluid motion the prince struck the smallest of the group right on the head knocking him out. With his leader screaming on the ground in pain, one compatriot dead, and another unconscious, the stunned strongman was in total shock and no matter how much he wanted to run, his feet wouldn't move. The creature then turned to him, hissing with malice. But it was a distraction as a flash of iridescent black exploded out from the trees and drove him to the ground in an instant. Faster than the man could process the feeling of huge claws digging into his abdomen hit him hard. He could feel the slices into his skin as razors flashed before him. He finally snapped to action as his forearms were blocking his face. Blood was dripping into his eyes as he could feel his abdomen being torn open as whatever was attacking him jumped up and down on his guts and the feeling of a huge pair of blades kept slicing him open. As his very life-blood started to drain from him, the arms feel and the merciful release of death followed as the last impulse he could sense was that of horribly sharp teeth tearing out his throat.

There were only six men and six horses left to see what happened as the animal on the man's chest tossed the flesh in its mouth away, raised its head up, and released an ear splitting screech at the top of its lungs. Declaring victory in the blood of those that attacked her pack, this huntress declared the forest as her and her packs in the dinosaur equivalent of a right of challenge.

"Did I just see what I thought I saw?" Tuxford said, mouth agape in shock. His sword still in the scabbard and unsure what to do.

"Indeed..at least I think we did." Gregor said, almost in as much shock as well.

Philip reacted first, getting down from Samson and walking towards the two odd creatures. He put his hands up in front of the dark feathered one, and motioned for her to sit. Eyes were locked between them and to the amazement of the guests of the land, the creature complied sitting down and preening the blood from her feathers.

"Good girl Dianna good girl." He said calmly, slowly. And placed his hand behind the creatures head and stroked it. "Cavin I want you to slowly get up and mount your horse." Philip said in a dead serious tone. "Now Cavin."

It took the page a moment to process what had just gone on, as it was in just a few minutes and he barely had time to process it. Still he did as he was told and backed away slowly, and kept his eyes on the creature as he threw his legs over in the saddle.

"Jessica good girl." Philip said addressing the other creature, who approached him hooting like an owl. "Good girl Jessica." At this point the crested one too sat down and was being stroked affectionately.

This was so unexpected that no one made any movements. When it seemed that the two rescuers were calm, Philip walked over to the boar, and with one movement tore open the guts of the creature, letting organs spill out for all to see. He then moved over cut a piece of meat out, turned his back to all, and covered his mouth in the blood acting as if he had taken the first bite. Then he offered the liver and heart to the two predators to eat.

"Always remember," Philip said. "The Alphas eat first." He then started to hack the boar apart for transport back to the castle.

"I take it that you want an explanation and are due one." Philip said, contemplating his words.

"Indeed, did these dragons just kill these barbarians?" Sir Tuxford said, trying to find his words.

"For us, yes. To save our lives, the lives of their pack they most certainly did." Philip said as he cleaned off his blade and set it in the scabbard. "And they aren't dragons your highness." Philips said looking at the bewildered Gregor. "Jessica and Dianna are dinosaurs."

"Dinosaurs?" Gregor asked in confusion, seeing the two predators socializing. "And they are your pets?"

"More Aurora's than mine." Philip said, his tone of one completely dead-serious manner. "But yes."

"Are they friendly?" Cavin asked, still keeping his distance on his mount. They fascinated him, so fast, so lethal, and so brutal, and yet they had saved his life.

"When you get to know them." Philip reassured the page.

"Perhaps we should ride home." Stefan said, with a somewhat heavy heart. "I am sure the ladies are worried, and the smell of blood will likely attract more than a few unsavory hunters."

Philip nodded, the whole tone had shifted from one of joy at Cavin's heroism, to a more somber tune so fast.

"Well whatever they are, they saved Cavin's life as well as put and end to a band of ruthless thugs." Gregor said, seeing the things rise and follow the men as they rode back to the castle on horseback. "As far as I am concerned, they are heroes."

"I say yes, but what are they and how did they come to be here in your kingdom." Tuxford said as he made sure the meat packed on his mount was secured.

"Well that is a long story…" Philip admitted, Samson nodding in agreement.

Back at the Castle, Ariel and Eric were given the full tour, with one mermaid with legs being in complete awe of all the culture and human interaction around her. Aurora acting as the guide to her kingdom, answered all of Ariel's questions with the joy of any teacher with a brilliant student. It was a completely wonderful time as the new girl was so happy to see so many humans just going about their daily lives.

"Aurora thank you so much for this wonderful trip." Ariel said as she smiled. "Your home is so fascinating, I just…I know I have so many questions for you but I am around people that I can actually talk to and…I just find this whole world so fascinating."

"I bet, as she said it twice." The younger looking Charming sarcastically said to Snow.

"Not a problem at all Ariel." Aurora said as she ignored the prince's comment. "I love to answer questions, it makes me feel deeply appreciated that you do ask me things. So please if I can do anything for you just…."

As Aurora was continuing to talk the sentry cried out at the top of his lungs. "The kings and prince are arriving from their hunting party!"

"Oh good looks like the rest of the family is back, now Ariel I want you to meet my husband Philip…" As Aurora saw her husband and his white coated stallion ride up, she immediately noticed his face was covered in blood and her two therapod pets were with them.

"Oh no. Philip what happened?" Aurora said looking at the blood on his face.

"It's alright it's alright…" Philip said as he tried to stop his wife from fussing over him too much. "Rose. I am alright." He smiled at her. Though with blood smeared all over him and the big secret of the castle standing there proudly for all to see. "There was, an incident and…well…" Philip tried to compose himself while not worrying Aurora too much.

"Thanks." Philip finally said to her.

"For what exactly?" Aurora asked in confusion.

"Well, for sending them honestly." Philip pointed his thumb backwards at the unexpected party members. "Saved Cavin's life after he bagged himself a huge boar."

The two looked at each other knowingly and nodded in agreement.

"Seems we have a change in plans." Stefan said as his own wife was worried for him. "Perhaps it is best if everyone meets us in the dinning hall." Stefan then snapped his fingers and handed the boar meat to a series of footmen. "Take these to the kitchen for the cooks."

In a few minutes all the royals and court officials were sitting at a rather large table and waiting for the story.

"So, the secret is apparently out and now you all know that there are living dinosaurs alive and well living in our kingdom. The only question now is, what will you do with this knowledge?" Stefan said taking the lead. "As for why they are here, and what they are doing here, my lovely daughter should tell you."

"Thank you, father." Aurora said standing up and taking command of the situation. "As you all are aware Disney hasn't been the most successful in the last few decades but seems to be making a come-back. A few years ago, I decided to go out and get a more formal education. To that end I earned a PhD in ornithology. It was at my graduation that a gentleman name John Hammond asked me to help in with his park. A zoological preserve of sorts off the coast of Costa Rica. They were cloning dinosaurs from preserved samples of genetic material and needed someone to help control them, to understand them, and make the park successful. As some of you are aware I can talk to all animals, speak with all animal life, and as such I took one sample of audio from their animals and right there and then signed up for the job to help off-set the loss of funds from Disney. A few of the species are here as I have been working hard with my husband to find ways to train the dinosaurs, to understand ways for humans to safely interact with them. The two you see before you are young carnivorous dinosaurs which we consider pets and they act very much like we are a pack."

"If they are a pack, then who is the alpha?" Calla asked, in wonder at the animals in her company.

"I am, but he helps." Aurora said pointing to her husband. "The park relies on me at this point, and I know that my movie wasn't the most successful for all the work put into it. I also know that this will require a huge amount of trust on both our parts because dinosaurs hold such a fascination with the people of the world outside and already we are trying to welcome the two of you into a decades long secret of our own. Disney magic is almost gone and in no way did I want to not share this, but as Jurassic Park is still very much a secret I couldn't just tell all of you." Aurora stopped for a moment to catch her breath.

"Ariel and Eric I know that this is a lot to ask of a stranger, but knowing what happened with open eyes and how much is riding on both your success and the success of these animals not being exploited, are you still willing to try and be part of the family here?"

Ariel looked at her husband Eric, who was completely lost at this point. He looked back at her and wondered what to do.

"Well I'll support you, whatever you decide." Eric finally admitted. "I know what happened the last time you signed a contract but seems to have work out for us."

"Last time my daddy had just obliterated my entire collection of artifacts and stubbornly broke my heart in a rage." Ariel pointed out. "And I honestly do understand, a lot more than you think, about the importance of a secret not being shared or misunderstood." Ariel took a moment herself to collect her thoughts. "Before I met any of you, I had a whole range of human artifacts I collected. I wondered about the most mundane things humans used and why. I wanted to understand your species as you were so familiar and yet so completely different from my own. I found you all to be so, special and wanted to share culture with those that I had been told were evil because a few of you had killed my mother. I loved her, but I know that not all humans or merpeople are good or bad. We are equally people." Ariel continued. "And as far as dangerous pets go, once helped a huge seahorse that many thought was too wild to befriend and I had a pet killer whale I raised who lost his parents."

"You had a pet killer whale?" Eric asked.

"Yes his name is Spot. He had a little white dot on his tail, so he got the name Spot. The fact these two saved the lives of their family doesn't bother me, and I figure all of you want to make us feel like family. So I for one am willing to give this an honest chance, but you are going to have to answer every single question I have and I want to see everything." Ariel said offering Aurora her hand in friendship.

"It's a deal." Aurora said shaking the other princess's hand.

"Great, so now my first of many questions. What exactly is a fire, and why does it burn?" The entire table erupted in a series of chuckles as the tension dropped from the air.

To be continued.

Author's notes:

Okay so this chapter took a while to get out of my head as I had so many different things I needed to try to mix together so that both Disney and Jurassic Park's themes and feels were part of this. Also I know that I have many different characters that were in this chapter and at the risk of seeming bloated, I did try to give everyone some time and that they had their personalities right. And before anyone asks about the whole guys going to hunt while the women are at home, I know some people think that is probably going to be sexist but I hope that those who read won't inject that into the work rather the girls want the guys out of the way while they set up the party the way they want it to be while boar hunting is historically a rather common practice and yes it was to give one of my favorite cartoons a lot of references in this chapter. I feel that I hopefully got everyone right in this story and that my fans will continue to enjoy my work as this crossover means a lot to me.


	7. Chapter 7

Jurassic Park what if Chapter 7

by Agent Reptile

Control is only an illusion

Disney characters belong to Disney

Jurassic Park belongs to Universal Studios and Michael Crichton's estate

The human mind is a wonder of evolution. Through billions of years of evolution and natural selection nothing is as good a pattern recognizer as the human mind. Constantly fed with sensory inputs and having had the harshest teacher of all refine the design, the human mind can form cognitive connections out of almost any connection of these sensory inputs. Visual stimulation, sound, touch, taste, smell, etc. All filter through a network of nerves which recognize repeat patterns because in repetition there is learning. This basic adaptation is shared with other animals of course, but humans have a nagging feeling when something does not fit into their observed patterns. When something seemingly throws a kink into the observed meta patterns of existence.

This error as it were in outcome or being usually is completely understandable, borne from seeing only the macroscopic patterns of our reality, but it has acquired a name that is often viewed highly negatively: chaos. The seemingly random and completely uncontrollable nature often ascribed to the smallest bits of working systems doing what they are doing reacting to any sort of limit or control upon them. It was on the thin edge between the concepts of pattern and chaos that humanity based observations on to learn and catalog things to make sense of what is. For some they reject this cognitive disconnect, others embrace it.

It is here in Texas that one mathematical scholar has made a career out of the observations and exploitation of chaos and the hyper logarithmic postulates that come from seeing the world through patterns rather than formulas.

Dr. Ian Malcolm was the greatest mind within the study of chaos theory and had made his rather pronounced career by more or less taking the pattern recognition of the human brain and seeing the world through the complex miasma of chaos and pointing out how the more complex something is the less control one could exert on it before it fought back against that control. This however had led to a unique life in which Malcom practiced little to any control over himself. Although logical in many ways, he was divorced several times and his bombastic personality was not always easy to deal with.

Still Donald wouldn't have had him on retainer if he was not exceedingly gifted at understanding systems, especially on a complex scale. And there was no more complex a system than the natural world, nor one which would fight against any sort of control or restriction.

Animals migrate, plants expand, genes shift, and the seemingly random mixing of genetic sequences that give rise to the vast variations of life provided Malcom the ideal system to prove his chaos theories and give himself a bit of a superiority complex. And that complex is exactly what Donald Genaro needed as the lawyer was now caught between two vast egos with billions on the line.

"Donald I keep telling you that there is no way that the park will work as Hammond has suggested it." Dr. Malcom said over the phone from his office. "Basic systems analysis proves this."

"I'm not saying that I don't believe you Malcom, but the investors are going to need something more concrete to prove your assertions are more than just speculation." Donald's voice was tired in the way only an overworked paper-pusher can be. "You are dealing with people who's understanding of math involves how much they can write off from their luxury mansions in Palm Beach and how much interest the trust funds the leave for their kids accumulate."

"Well let us start with the drastic drop in work-place accidents over the past couple of years." Dr. Malcom started. "And the connection with the addition of this Dr. Rose to the park's staff." Malcom started going into his usual odd paced speech pattern as he slipped into one of his very characteristic monologues.

"We have here, a lady who very little is known about, who has records only going back far enough to establish a place of residency and an education from college to her doctorate." Malcom continued. "Who has been hired on to John's project in Costa Rica and just by virtue of being there the records of medical problems have dropped astronomically."

"Are you saying they are covering something up on that island?" Donald said, making sure to record everything he could to cover himself in case worse came to worse.

"Undoubtedly, but we have not established what and definitely have not established by whom." Malcom pulled back a bit on any potential allegations, but still was postulating. "And we still must discuss Hammond's other investments. The massive supercomputers you said that he had purchased, insured, and transported to the island?"

The machines in question, Cray XP supercomputers, latest that had been developed, where worth millions each and had to be super-cooled to run properly. About the size of a man and hundreds of pounds of delicate circuitry, one was enough to run most of the computations of a fortune 500 company by itself acting as server and mainframe. Hammond had three of these things and had them all shipped to that island in the middle of nowhere.

"Yes top of the line equipment." Donald said going over his paper. "Any idea what he would need them for? Possibly for running a park's day to day operations or rides?"

Malcom chuckled at the other end of the call. That weird off-beat laugh that seemed somehow forced every time he did it.

"From what I understand you wouldn't even need half of one of those to have a functioning resort. Hell an amusement park wouldn't need that much computation power." Malcom continued.

"Are you an expert in computer systems now?"

"Don't have to be." Malcom answered. "Simple mental mathematics to calculate the processing power for keeping rides running, the communications to the mainland, the tellers and such all running wouldn't need a single one of those processers. And he has three of them on site?"

Donald nodded as he switched which hand he had the phone in. "Yes. Also what do you make of the purchase of fossil material and having Dr. Grant and his department as consultants on this venture?"

"Fossil material Donald?" Malcom continued. "Dr. Grant you said was a paleontologist was it?" Ian took a moment to ponder this a bit. "And most of the recorded injuries you said were from infections?"

"Accident reports indicate that most of the treatments were from some sort of interactions with animals." Donald clarified. Shuffling his legal pad, Donald went through the abbreviated list of wounds that the park staff had reported. "Bites with infections, some sort of toxic exposures. Seems like the wildlife didn't agree with the work being done there."

Donald knew that dinosaurs were on the island, heck he had a list of the "exotic animal insurance" listing vague terms of the dinosaurs they knew they had; all without saying anything regarding species or even that they were dinosaurs. Just animal number whatever and the estimated value.

"If it was the local wildlife then the island would be under quarantine like that island of vipers and deemed unsafe for human population." Malcom pointed out. "And the workers wouldn't be interacting with local wildlife on an island that would cause infections bites like what you asked about. Envenomation maybe, but not the infections in question. Also how would someone who specialized in bird calls be related to a resort venture where you would need tons of amber?"

Donald continued to nod. His growing concern seemed to lead into each word of agreement. "No what John was trying to do was create a completely controllable system in which somehow he is able to maintain biological attractions on a scale never attempted and no matter how sophisticated the technology involved, it is doomed to failure to begin with."

"And why is that?" Donald asked. The sheer amount of confidence in Ian's statement bordered between arrogance and hubris. "Surely zoos have animal attractions all the time."

"Yes, and often the animals within will attempt to break out or otherwise escape. And a zoo is a fundamentally bad idea at an attempt at a system as not every species can be contained and those that do best in captivity are ones with centuries of human interaction. Also, while we may think that we can control animals behind walls and bars the fact is that zoos often are on the edge of something bad happening." Malcom took a moment to collect his thoughts. "Have you ever heard of Ken Allen?" Malcolm asked as he took a swig of some sort of fluid.

"No I can't say I have." Donald said making a quick perusal of the employee list from InGEN. "Who is he?"

"Not who Donald, what." Ian smugly replied with his usual brash and almost superior air of confidence.

"I'm not getting what you are talking about." Donald said as he was at this point completely lost.

"Ken Allen isn't a man, but rather one of the most infamous escape artists in the national zoo. An orangutan who had found a way to escape from his enclosure on a regular basis. For months the handlers couldn't figure out how he did it and night after night he would cause havoc by releasing animals and no one could figure out how something not human figured out the lock mechanisms."

"Sorry how does an orangutan have to do with John Hammond's system?" Donald wondered with complete frustration.

"Everything." Malcom said. "The fact was that the park handlers knew what animal it was that escaped, they knew how the locks worked, but months and months of watching did nothing to stop the animal from getting out."

"So how did they figure it out?" Donald said, quite irritated at this point at not getting what Malcom was getting at.

"They set up a camera. The orangutan had hidden a twisted bit of metal that was used to pick the lock."

"So they found the pick. What was the problem after that? Surely the creatures in the park aren't like orangutans."

"You would think, but the animal knew to hide the pick under his lip when the handlers came into the enclosure." Ian continued to explain. "The issue wasn't how that one animal was smart enough to figure out the locks and use the tool, it was how fundamentally humanity will underestimate the problems of trying to contain and control a thinking creature and how arrogantly we perceive our own intelligence as so greater than others that we can control for every conceivable contingency. It is just not possible to do so."

"I am sure they are going to say something about the fact that the animals within the park are not as smart as orangutans Ian." Donald pointed out. At first irritated at Dr. Malcom and then accepting of the issues at hand.

"The species has very little to do with it Donald, or rather the contained species." Dr. Malcom continued. "The issue really is about human arrogance in the sight of unpredictable non-linear forces."

"So you are sure that the park will fail still?" Donald prodded the mathematician.

"Without a doubt. Chaos theory almost demands it. It is simply impossible with the number of variables in place to keep a place like Hammond's park in operation."

"Even with this Dr. Rose as head handler and animal trainer?" Donald countered, though in a way very clear he was prodding for information and not persay pleading Hammond's case.

"A windfall for Hammond to be sure." Ian admitted begrudgingly. "Everything he needed to 'fix' the park as it were." Dr. Malcom chuckled a bit as he was heard to be shuffling his own papers. "And supposedly she can actually communicate with animals somehow?"

"From what I am told. She somehow is able to easily translate animal communications into something recognizable to human language." Just saying this sounded like some sort of fantasy story as Donald looked over the photo of the paper before him. He still couldn't believe that this lovely young lady was really some Disney princess character. There had to be some sort of explanation outside of the impossibility that an animated movie character was real.

"Remarkably beautiful woman I have to say." Ian's well known copious "personality" was showing again.

"She does have many who would say such. However according to her employment records she is married and John is very defensive of her and her part in the operations of the park." Donald warned.

"Well if she is able to understand the creatures and their needs then she would be more vital than any other part of this business. John is trying to do something that has never been attempted and each animal is a variable so distinct that trying to have any sort of control is impossible." Malcolm continued. "And then there is the question as to how she is able to do this, this animal translation as it were. It would seem like all the world this is nothing short of magic."

"Magic? Really?" Donald normally would have sarcastically replied at this, but after seeing the evidence from his daughter, he wasn't sure if that was real or an elaborate forgery of some obsessed fan.

"Don't worry I'm not saying magic is real. What I am saying is that scientists operate on the model of hypothesis, experiment, and then theory where an observed phenomenon is postulated about, then they set up a double-blind study with a control group. By comparing the test group to the control group and recording the repeating outcome a theory becomes more understood." Malcom continued to explain. "But while Dr. Rose was able to prove conclusively that her understanding of bird calls was absolutely correct with the reactions with wild animals, no one has been able to replicate her exact vocalizations. I will admit some attempts at call pattern recognition has seemed to have worked in small amounts, but it only proves exactly why the park Hammond has built is unsustainable."

"I'm sorry I am lost." Donald answered extremely perplexed at this point. "How does that prove the park is inevitably bound to fail?"

"Because the times that the experiment was tried without Dr. Rose doing it, even when the situation was set up without her ever being in the room before, the animals didn't all react the same way. In fact only Dr. Rose could get them to do exactly what she wanted."

"I admit I haven't read all of the details or publications, but what are you getting at here? Somehow she rigged the system even when she never was part of the set-up for the experiment? How would that relate to her work translating languages that did pass academic rigor?"

"You are so close, and yet you aren't seeing what is right in front of your face. And it is exactly why the Park will never work the way Hammond wants it to and will fail."

"Okay, please just explain what it is that you are getting at." Donald said as he was at his limit with Dr. Malcom and this whole chaos mess.

"In simple terms, animals aren't organic bits or computer data Donald. They have individual wants and desires and even if the language is understood they don't have to do what they want to." Dr. Malcom explained. "Some will do exactly what they are asked, in fact most will thinking that it is a legitimate call, but much like the child who cried wolf the animals eventually will figure out that the communication of a request or danger can be ignored. Animals in nature actually exploit this to their advantage and under the constant threat of death they liar will get the result that they want, but in a contained and closed system where the animals needs are met and they live without the likelihood of being hunted then they will learn to ignore some of these commands." Malcom took a breath for a moment.

"So you have doubts that Dr. Rose is on the level with what she does?" Donald said, now getting very worried.

"I would say no. The fact that worksite problems have gone down as you noted from the reports about the park indicate that what she is doing not only works, but that she would become the single lynchpin of the operation." Malcom quickly answered, in his usual draw out way. "But relying on this one person with so much can go wrong in a heartbeat means that with so many small minor bits to your system, the animals of the park, that it will unquestionably fail as there are too many minor things to try to control for with any degree of certainty. And that is before we even try to deal with guests or their safety."

Dr. Malcom was so adamant about his position and the usual conversations about chaos and the like seemed so out of touch from time to time with normal people that Donald could only deal with him the same small amount as he now dealt with John Hammond. Two huge egos who wouldn't give an inch in their stances and their beliefs, the clash was coming and Donald didn't want to be anywhere near the fallout of this conflict. However….

"So you are coming to this conclusion without even seeing the park, going over all the changes from Hammond's original design, or even meeting with Dr. Rose or anyone else who is part of this investment. And nothing will change your mind?" Donald's words were heavy on his tongue as he honestly was tired of the whole Jurassic Park investment and INGen. The heads of his firm said if anything went wrong to scuttle the whole mess and send Hammond under a bus. Problem was that right now the park wasn't actually in any danger of failing and seemed to want to succeed. And while that may be a good thing, without the "experts" signing off on the idea the firm wouldn't lend any support and the Park was in a strange state of limbo where it was all set to open soon, and yet it couldn't because it needed to confirm it was safe the park was not able to be opened.

What was needed was an investigation on the island and the workings thereof, but Cowan, Swain & Ross couldn't do an investigation without either John's agreement (which he would never do at this point), or the investors demanding one and with things running smoothly so far the resort was going nowhere.

"Look Ian, I get what you are saying and I appreciate the time you have taken to try and state your case, but without something major happening all the theories in the world won't matter as the investors, John, and my firm won't budge. You know what I'm going to ask you right?"

"That you want me to go there and see it and say yay or nah on it? Yes. But John won't let me anywhere near that place without something happening. So all I have to do is wait because soon it will happen. I don't know when and I don't know how, but it will happen and it will cause everything to go down catastrophically."

Donald Gennaro was not the only one who was rather frustrated with his current duties. Ed Rigus was supposed to be the manager of public relations for Jurassic Park and his job was supposed to be the middleman between the heads of the park and all the promotional work. The work, according to the job description, was supposed to be mainly dealing with the artsy people who made all the posters and toys for the park, not be the random errand boy for whatever work Hammond decided to stick him with from day to day.

This day it was to go over all the workers paperwork and make sure things were going on schedule for opening. The redheaded man was out of his element going over the schedules of when certain rides were open, what parts of the park were functional, the daily progress of the workers, etc. He was better inspiring creators of products for sale, not the brass tacks of organized operations.

"Okay run this by me again, what parts of the park are open and what do we need fixed on your end again?" Ed asked Ray Arnold, who was hard at work on his end going over the tracks for the parks tour ride.

"What we still need is the computer interface between the ride and the vehicles as the workmen are building the road. To do that we need the sensors to be perfectly synced between the pre-recorded audio files and the enclosures." Ray continued.

"Okay and this isn't something that you can just build?" Ed asked as he was writing these tiny niggles down.

"I can build the sensors, I can build the players, and the radios in the vehicles will work fine. But I need to make sure that Nedry has the computers and their models working together." Ray continued taking a drag on is cigarette. "We just got the autofeeders working properly but we need to make sure all the interconnected units mesh together with perfect timing."

"And you want me to tell Nedry what exactly?" Ed asked the engineer. "I am not even allowed to tell the creative staff of artists what they are making posters for."

Ray nodded, knowing exactly what Ed was talking about. Heck he was forced to keep the mainframe designer in darkness on the specifics as John was so paranoid about letting the secret out that Ray only gave vague instructions about building modules for x type system. While Ray was more a mechanical engineer he knew how difficult it was to build without knowing exactly what you were building. Still though the guy was a pain to deal with, almost as much as Ed.

"Good news is that we are thankfully on time as far as the major construction projects go. Next item will be building the enclosures for the sauropods and trying to integrate the viewing platforms into the rides. I think the pins are being set up near the river ride at this point." Ray continued going over the computer screen at the park lay-out. The main track for the ride shown in green as the path that was dug and laid out was almost complete. Grey indicators showed where the audio sensors were going to be placed to be while green ones showed the ones that were installed.

This tangled line of dots seemed to split along one path of the road off of the visitor's center to where a raft icon was shown. It was supposed to be the start of the river ride and ran through a few of the enclosures of herbivore species. The plan was that guests could see some of the same species on both tour methods, but from opposite sides of the enclosure. This feature was meant to allow the park guests to have a closer look at the animals and that meant more publicity for Ed to show off to the producers of the tie-in materials. Heck they had planned to show off that English Barywatsis at the end of the raft ride as it was a fish-eater and exclusive to that part of the park.

Sadly Dr. Rose was still not giving her seal of approval on the thing. Something about sounds…Ed didn't understand a word of it to be honest and all he saw it as was more delays and getting in the way of his real job.

"So how long till that gets functional?" Ed asked, trying to piece together the mess of dots and scheduling objectives.

"Till we find a way to safely have our guests ride without having their eardrums ruptured? Still working on that but should be good soon." Ray said typing a few keys on his computer. "What is going to be a bugbear though is the introduction of our second Tyrannosaurus." As the computer screen flashed a bit, it showed a dotted group of lines near the visitor's center where a new enclosure was being installed. Smaller than the fully functional paddock along the visitor's trail, this one was built with a more natural environment in mind with large boulders and thick moats with high carbon steel gates and an attempt to hide the electric fencing around it.

"Which will be temporarily housed near the visitor's center with views from the hotel and the upper floor of the center." Ray went on. "We are currently awaiting shipment from Sorna, along with a number of the smaller sauropods before they get too big to transport safely."

Big had a whole different context when talking about sauropods. Brachiosaurs, Apatosaurus, diplodocus, and whatever next species Dr. Wu was able to restore in the lab all were massive animals when fully grown and the volume of space, food, and water needed was so huge that there was always a danger of the cost alone would bankrupt the park before it even opened. And they weren't even full grown yet but still weighted several tons. The raw amount of vegetation these animals consumed was beyond any scale Ed could comprehend and the only reprieve that the vegetation got was that the three main species they have cloned so far migrated around the island to feed. This caused a few problems as the three different species had rather different preferences with regards to vegetation coverage. The diplodocus wanted more open area while the Brachiosaurus needed a lot more space with dense forests as well as open ground to be happy. And the Apatosaurus needed even more tree-cover than Brachiosaurs and would run to the nearest shadowy area as soon as they were released into their enclosure.

Ed wasn't really interested in what dinosaurs did on their down time, but John was so adamant about showing every species off that running for cover just irritated the head of the company and that rolled down hill on Ed who was supposed to figure out how to get the specialists to make the dinosaurs more visible and thus more likely to please the guests. And unlike other members of the staff, Ed had no protection from John's unstable emotional outbursts.

"So when can we expect them to arrive?" Ed asked. While a number of dinosaurs were cloned on Isla Nublar, an in fact every species could easily be grown on Isla Nublar, the success rate for cloning was so low that to increase the raw numbers of dinosaurs they would mass clone them on the nearby island of Isla Sorna and then ship them to Isla Nublar. This also freed up a lot of room for attractions to the park which otherwise would be needed for research and cloning facilities.

While all of these issues were in Ray's department, Ed had to deal with keeping all the various separate parts of the operation working together. The next ship from Sorna was going to arrive in a few hours and Ed had to go back to the dock yard to see the new additions. He would have seriously wished that Dr. Rose could have done this, but instead he was handed a minicassette recorder with a tape labeled for each species and was told to guide each animal to their proper place. This sounded ludicrous to him and regularly he couldn't tell one species from another. Added to this was that only the smaller herbivores were kept in locked pens like something out of a modern-day Noah's ark. The carnivores though were kept in specialized cages and slightly sedated for their transport from Sorna.

Dr. Rose and Maldoon had the transportation system worked out to perfection with the transport teams having multiple copies of her voice to guide the animal, padded personal protection equipment and shields against spitting and slashing, and loading zones where the park could have the slightly sedated hunters guided into a sort of air-lock enclosure. The cage would be locked down with heavy bolts, the opening to the enclosure was locked into the up position, and only then did a worker get on top of the cage to lift the door up and let the dinosaur into the holding pen. No animals inside the enclosure could get out, the space wasn't large enough for the animals in the cage to get loose, and the cage and the door to it could be locked into position with little chance of the animal escaping.

Ed didn't really care for all this complex security procedures and figured that so long as the recordings worked to coax the animals then why did they even need to follow this, or even need to have Dr. Rose as anything more than a consultant. Maldoon and Ray both more or less told him to shut-up and do what he was told on this as it wasn't up for debate.

"Next boat arrives in about two hours, so right after lunch." Ray said going over the details of the dinosaurs on his computer. "Three Apatosaurus, two dilophosaurs, and three parasaurolophus." Ray read off shooting back his coffee.

"No new Rex?" Ed joked. Ray just scrolled through the unintuitive interface searching further.

"Not this boat but the next one. Said something about not wanting any other dinosaurs around when they bring it in." Ray went over the warnings labeled on the screen. Something about it having a new genetic mutation that the higher-ups wanted to make sure to see. The new rex's skin was green or something. Ray couldn't understand it, but having had to deal with "Rexie's" growth spurts and design and redesign that enclosure several times over…he was not looking forward to another Rex at the park.

"If the tapes work then why not have the foreman do the job?" Ed asked, really wanting to get back to his real job as soon as possible.

"Because if they don't then you will have a fully trained crew take over and get the animals into their housings while you can run for your life." Ray said tapping his spent cigarette into the ash tray on his desk. Regardless of Ray's nasty habit he made sure to keep his workstation in an excessively tidy condition. A well-ordered mind helped Ray keep up on all the details of the park and the animal transportation and housing was a job that realistically took about three people in constant communication and monitoring. Sadly he just had himself and his one work station with three monitors connected to the computers which were in serious need of debugging.

"Got it." Ed said, realizing that he wasn't going to be able to argue out of this job and pocketed the tape-player before making sure he had the right animal recordings on hand. They were just animals right? Why did they have to be treated so carefully? Ed just wanted to shake his head and be done with the day, but he had to get to the North Dock and had to get there fast.

Ray just shot back his coffee again and turned back to the screen. Filled with multiple layers of data between electrified fences, animal feeder schedules, and the constant numbers running counting the dinosaurs with the motion tracking and camera recognition systems going over the database list of dinosaurs that were supposed to be on the island and checking that each one was accounted for.

The system did have the occasional glitch or the datasheet seemed to run by at different speeds, but all the dinosaurs were accounted for and it was cutting edge software able to identify and catalogue the dinosaurs in minutes based on the massive amounts of cameras around the islands and in the holding cells. And for those areas of the park that didn't have cameras or motion tracking algorithms? Well they were being installed as the enclosures continued to be built. As more dinosaurs were cloned and transported, and more enclosures built, that required a lot more computer power to run and that meant that all the errors and bugs that were tiny issues were quickly going to become huge ones. The computer systems had the raw power to handle the cloning algorithems, the animal monitoring, the synchronization of the audio feeds, and more or less everything else needed to run the park from the projections that Ray had given Hammond, but what it didn't have yet was the right modules that could use that raw power with regards to the park. And that was why they needed Nedry to physically be at Jurassic Park to go back and recode the whole thing to bring it up to spec.

Ray was so focused on his work that he didn't notice Ed still waiting on him.

"Anything more on the to-do list before I have to drive off?" Ed asked, slightly annoyed at being ignored at this point.

"Not that I can think of, just be very careful because John wants this to go very smooth." Ray said turning his head looking back to Ed.

"Where is he if I may ask?" Ed asked hoping to avoid his head employer for a bit least he get another job dumped on him.

"At this moment he's arguing with our systems designer over pay in his office." Ray said as he went to get a fresh cancer stick.

Ed sighed in relief as he headed out the door and to the garage with the jeeps. He planned to grab a sandwich or something from the kitchen on his way out and take a few minutes by the docks where he could have some time by himself as he tried to figure out his next move. He had hoped that John would leave him to be after this and let him focus on getting the promotional companies ready to get printing and publishing.

Ed just shook his head and headed out. Ray shrugged as the magnetically locked door opened and closed.

"At least those are still working." Ray said going back to focusing on his workstation. Another bug seemed to pick up for a second and then passed. It looked for a moment like the camera had shown a couple of compies or a young hadrosaur of some sort that was unaccounted for. This needed to be fixed fast as the park needed to account properly for every animal.

Casting his eyes towards the introduction pens where the next batch of successfully cloned herbivores where being introduced to their species. Eupholasephalus and ankylosaurus looked very close to eachother but they were radically different animals and one wanted to be in small groups no more than say four with a maximum of 8 per enclosure and the other needed at least two of the same species in the same pen to be happy and usually a population of about 4 to be more stable. To Ray they were both just living tanks of a creature with a huge boney club on the end of their tails, but thankfully there were those who could identify the difference between them as if they were upset then things got bad fast. Very fast in fact as they would smash their tails against the sides of their pens and it was actually denting the metal. If left by themselves then they would break out even through the reinforced steel barriers. The only thing that quickly stopped the attacks was using the right animal call recordings Dr. Rose left.

Ray had integrated the audio recordings to a speaker system, but again the module was so buggy at times that it just wouldn't play or would pull up the wrong file. It nearly ended in a disaster when Ray played one meant for the hadrosaurs but instead the speakers let out the roar of the Tyrannosaurus.

That put the herd into a panic nearly causing them to rip the fencing apart. While it may seem weird for an animal to rip through carbon steel, the animals in question were about 7 tons each and about as big as an African Elephant. This meant that cheap fencing wasn't going to keep them in place and Ray had worked day and night to come up with layouts of fencing, concrete, and make it natural-looking so that the guests wouldn't see the actual enclosure and feel drawn into this prehistoric world. This was the real art of Ray's job and it was like another layer of convoluted mess on top of the most complex and seemingly chaotic mess anyone could imagine. This was one of the reasons Ray respected Rose so much as anything that kept the dinosaurs calm enough to not ruin enclosures meant that Ray could relax a bit when having to redo enclosures. Play a few recordings, dinos calm down, workers alter what needs to be altered outside the enclosure and then remove the old enclosure frame, then the audio files can be turned off and the dinosaurs get used to their modified enclosure and relax.

While not the ideal way to build for a park, cloned dinosaurs habitats was a brand new field and their behavior was a complete unknown for each new species and even related species would have radically different requirements for population, enclosure size, and even the level of grassland and shade and water needed. These specifications meant that the park had to construct a huge database of variables for the health of their animals and do an absolute massive amount of work the computers had to keep a record about everything.

Ray just pushed it to the back of his head as he continued working on the park layout. The river tour was soon to get the final dinosaur enclosure and no one had a clue what a baryonx thought an ideal habitat was so it would be complete guess work and the animal was still not hatched yet, much less have the time needed to study to integrate it to the main park on Nublar.

The drive to the dock wasn't a particularly long one, just bumpy as most of the roads were just dirt paths somewhat maintained by the ground-crews. Ed couldn't really care that much, unless the darn thing was washed out from the regularly heavy rains or if the gates were buggy with the locks to the heavy gates sometimes not reading properly. In such cases Ed would have to get out, use his universal key to bypass the lock and then go through one section of gate, lock the open one behind him, and then unlock the outer gate to get to the dock yard. This took time, and Ed was not looking forward to spending more time not focused on promotional work in a cozy office just making phone calls all day.

Ed finished his lunch and tossed the remains in a trashbag at his feet. Excessive cleanliness was imperative to a smooth operation as the last thing anyone needed was the illusion of a perfect system ruined by some stray garbage. Ed got out of the jeep and saw the massive refurbished tanker pull into the dockyard. It was huge with most of the deck full of men running around moving stuff as a huge crane was already being set into position to bring the cargo up from below. Dozens of workers were all over the place dressed in orange hardhats with the Jurassic Park logo on them and bright blue personal protection equipment.

The teams seemed to be colored differently though as some were wearing white chemical suits, some where dressed in black with stun sticks, and others were decked out with tranquilizer rifles. The whole thing seemed like a waste of time for Ed who just wanted to play the tape than then move the animals to their holding areas.

This disapproving attitude was not missed on Muldoon, who was attentive to the slightest detail of this operation. About the only one not in some sort of uniform, the game warden was there with his SPAS-12 shotgun at the ready. While known to jam on occasion, the weapon was still a solid firearm with the ability to fire automatically or pump action. The eyes of the game warden were constantly shifting from one area of movement to the next as these operations were one of the most dangerous in all of the park and the slightest mess-up would result in serious injury or even death. John was too flighty to see this danger, but Muldoon..oh Muldoon knew exactly what he was in store for.

"Ed." Muldoon said without any real interest in the man.

"Ah Muldoon." Ed said while avoiding several men running with purpose as the crane lowered into he massive hull of the ship. The sounds of screeching and hooting echoed from within the hold as the crane reached down and with an audible thunk was connected to the cage.

"Carefully now." Muldoon said as he radioed the crane operator. "Take is slow and easy." The crane's long metal cable then rose up out of the hold as a rather irate young dilophosaurus was screaming from within.

"Easy, take it up slowly." Muldoon said again as the cord carefully cleared the open doors of the hold and the cage was lifted into the air about ten yards clear of the deck.

"Okay men to your positions." The men were running into pre-designated locations and seemed extremely tense as the crane swung away from the ship. The crane operator slowly and methodically then lowered the cage to the floor of the dock.

"Team one in position." Muldoon yelled as the white chemical gear dressed men came forward and moved to the lock of the cage and began the unlocking procedure.

"Okay Ed, play the tape." Muldoon said without moving his head towards the marketing head. Ed though was almost paralyzed as he looked at the dinosaur before him. He didn't move as he was struck in an odd fascination at the animal before him. This animal was an odd mix of lizard, bird, and dragon that Ed had never seen this close before and part of Ed's deep reptilian brain was shocked into immobilized fear.

"ED the TAPE!" Muldoon yelled at the top of his lungs finally shocking Ed out of his stupor. Ed then played the tiny minirecorder. The drugged dinosaur was not able to focus on any particular individual, but the creature was irate and started snapping wildly, almost nipping the handlers trying to unlock the cage. One bite would have been a disaster for that person's day as even without a face-full of spit the toxic secretions would cause serious problems if the skin was cut. As soon as the recorded voice started playing though the animal visibly shifted from being aggressive, to far more docile in nature…Ed would even say highly relaxed.

The dilophosaurus focused on the tape recorder and Ed was shivering as he now became the focus of the dinosaur. It hooted at Ed with a small "churring" sound at the end of the call. Ed was in almost shock at this as nothing he had seen as part of the staff could have prepared him for this close encounter with this dangerous carnivore.

"Okay now Ed walk back slowly to the truck." Muldoon said, much to Ed's shock. "Now Ed." Ed was slowly moving towards the truck, unquestionably aware that he now was the sole focus of the animal from the cage. The thing moved in such a way that Ed was captivated and repulsed at the same time. If it wasn't for Muldoon yelling at Ed then it is like the vice president of marketing would have been paralyzed in fear pissing himself.

As the team that opened the door moved out of the way, the predator slowly made it's way towards Ed. Still obviously under the effect of some sort of tranquilizer, the animal wasn't nearly as graceful as it usually would be. Somewhat slow and unsteady on it's feet, the animal still made the uncertain Jurassic Park marketing executive exceptionally unsettled. And worse of all to Ed, the thing was looking right at him and carefully making its way towards him. The thing had it's head low and kept hooting at him and the claws and teeth on that thing made this killing machine absolutely terrifying to Ed.

The dilophosaurus was flanked by the special handlers with their tasers ready to coerce the dinosaur to move along if needed.

The driver then turned on his own tape player and the dilophosaurus hooted as it was sealed up tightly to travel to the enclosure.

"What in the flying f…" Ed started to say to Muldoon.

"Cut your jabber, and turn off that tape." Muldoon said, not wanting any more of his time wasted dealing with the stuffed shirt. "We have more dinosaurs to transport and you are going to do your part."

"But why me?" Ed asked as he trembled trying to get the tape to rewind in the player; his fingers fumbling between rewind and fastforward.

"We just dumped millions into the new raptor enclosure and millions more into the layout of this park. Those funds mean we are tight on expenses, so everyone is pulling their weight here. You may be an office worker when the park opens, but right now every able hand is working on getting these animals from Sorna to their enclosures here on Nublar."

"Okay okay got it." Ed said, trying to calm his heart.

"So the faster we get these animals safely in their enclosures, the faster you get to earn your paycheck by making a few phone calls." Muldoon said as Ed tried to calm down just a little bit. "So next one better be smooth and by the numbers. We clear on that?"

"Very clear…" Ed said as he tried to not completely lose it.

"Good." Muldoon said as he called to the crane operator again over the radio. "Okay first animal is clear. Get ready for the next one."

"Okay señor." Muldoon hear the reply and the great crane moved the cage back up into the air and back onto the ship as the workers below deck got ready for the next load up. Ed was in shock at how these people could work in such close proximity to animals which were so unnerving to him. The only good thing was that this transportation was being done in broad daylight with clear weather.

Ed looked on as he fiddled through the tapes he had on hand and cursed himself for not knowing the names of the dinosaur species better.

"What next?" Ed thought to himself as he saw the crane again hoist up a cage from below deck. Thankfully for the workers, Ed didn't have to wait long as the other dilophosaurus was heard hooting from within the cage.

"Same as before. And this time I expect that you'll do better than you did with the one before." Muldoon said as he turned to Ed with a look of small disgust. Ed would argue it Muldoon, but right now he wasn't interested in risking a fight with so much else going on. Right now Ed knew he had to just lump it.

The creature was almost identical to the previous one's color. But as they were all clones that made some sense. But it seemed more lime-green in color with orange colored lines along the flanks. It still seemed drugged as the specialty crew got in place, just as the other one, but this unique dilophosaurus was recovering faster than the other one, and it seemed as if it was more alert than the first on. It also seemed to attack the cage more than the other as the claws had seemed to dig hard into the steel bars with relative ease.

Quickly Ed started playing the tape before the cage even had been placed on the dock. The animal perked up as it noticed the sound of Aurora's voice and hooted back towards Ed, who was careful, was getting even more unnerved as he saw the animal had obvious indications that it was more alert even supposedly under the effect of tranquilizers.

Ed wanted to run, he wanted to just book it to the jeep and say to absolute hell with this, but he didn't and knew he couldn't. For starters John would ruin his life and no one would dare hire him again in the industry. So he tried to suck up whatever courage he had and tried to keep close attention to what the thing was doing. And the double crested hunter was doing the same thing to Ed.

"Okay boys, ready to open the gate?" Muldoon asked as the men nodded in agreement. Muldoon signaled to do it and the cage's door was swung open. The dilophosaur almost ran from the enclosure towards Ed. Ed was so frightened that he stumbled back and fell down. The tape player was bumped and almost fell from Ed's hands as the dilophosaur approached fast and hovered over Ed. Everyone was in shock of this and no one dared move too close least the dinosaur got aggressive. Ed could feel the animal's breath as it lowered down and started to sniff Ed curiously.

"Keep back." Muldoon said as he carefully and quietly as possible shouldered his shotgun. Loaded with large buck-shot it was going to take more than a few shots to take the animal down. Even a solid slug of lead probably wouldn't have killed the animal outright, a sad fact made clear during how the Australian Army had lost what was called the Emu War. Still if it saved Ed's life by getting the animal's attention…

"Ed don't move." Muldoon said as he carefully took aim. Ed was so focused on the hot breath and rancid smell from the mouth of the dinosaur that was sniffing him that he didn't even have to listen to Maldoon; he was already paralized with terror. Ed shivered as the animal hovered over his face, and then shifted towards the tape player. Ed felt something wet and warm on his legs as the dilophosaurus started to ignore Ed and move on to the sound of his alpha on the cassette. Ed didn't move a muscle as the thing started to sniff the player and hoot at it.

Ed didn't know what to do as he saw the dinosaur completely obsessed with the sound of Dr. Rose's voice. In a mix of self-preservation and bravado Ed slowly got up and kept the player at arm's reach, as far as he could. Slowly and carefully Ed made his way towards the truck, the dinosaur keeping focused on the sound like a dog does a treat.

"Okay, okay you want this? You want this?" Ed said as he moved over to the back of the vehicle and then tossed the player into the vehicle. The dilophosaurus complied and jumped right inside. Inside you could hear it crying and scratching at the player. Ed slammed the doors shut as fast as he could. The other workers had then locked the doors in place and shut the animal carefully within. The sounds of frustration were heard from within till the driver started his own sound player and drew the creature's attention from the now locked back doors. Ed just collapsed on the ground in shock as his heart pounded in his head.

"Nice job Ed." Muldoon said approaching the marketing executive. "Damn nice job." Muldoon offered his hand to help his coworker back on his feet.

"What the, what in the absolute…" Ed was about to rip into a tirade at Muldoon, but was cut off.

"Not a bloody clue." The game warden said as he assessed the situation. The first major potential disaster at the park in several months if not almost a couple of years of development. "How in the hell did that happen is what I want to know." Muldoon asked as Ed clutched his chest trying to slow his breathing.

"Señor Muldoon, you may want to see this." Edwardo, the foreman in charge of the men said looking over the cage and saw that carbon steel of the cage's bars had deep cuts and grooves in it. Jagged, deep, and etched into the metal itself. Muldoon carefully ran his fingers over the marks. He could feel his fingers tingle a bit as he touched the outside of the bars. He quickly ran his hand over the outside of his shorts and checked to see if the metal had cut his fingers. Thankfully it had not. Smelling his fingers though, Muldoon recognized the stench coming off of them. The all too familiar scent of the toxic spit of a dilophsaurus. Other marks on the bars looked wider and cut deeper.

"Damn it." Muldoon cussed, rushing off to the workers toilet to wash the spit off his hands. The hot water and soap seemed to be doing the trick as he started to feel the tingling sensation die off. Muldoon turned off the water and looked his hands over carefully. "No cuts or scrapes thank God for that." The South African said to himself.

"Okay what in the absolute.." Ed almost cussed again, the sensation of his drying accident was starting to itch something fierce and the job still wasn't over.

"I want John on the phone now." Muldoon said. "And get me the guy in charge on Sorna. I want to know exactly how much tranquilizer was used and what happened."

"What are you getting on about Muldoon, that thing just…" Ed Regis started to go off again.

"That spitter was strong enough to bite into carbon steel." Muldoon answered back in frustration. "That should be impossible."

"Of course it should be impossible, this whole park should be impossible." Ed said as Muldoon called out to the crane operator.

"Move that cage off to the side. I want absolutely sure that no one messes with it and that it gets looked at immediately. After that start moving the animals again." Muldoon said, with little regard to Ed's talking.

"Again? Muldoon are you insane? We lost the tape recorder and that thing almost killed me." Ed said as his expensive suit was starting to feel even more uncomfortable.

"We need to clear out that ship, and those animals need to be safely transported to their enclosures to socialize so we are going to finish this." Muldoon said in no uncertain terms. "After they are moved we are going to have a group call because somehow someone somewhere messed up big time."

Muldoon was livid at this moment and he was seriously worried. "Edwardo any luck getting Hammond on the phone?"

"No, he is busy and the line goes right to recording." The middle-aged man said with the phone beeping in his ear.

"Blast it then get me the phone at the raptor enclosure." Muldoon groaned as he kicked the dirt in frustration.

"The raptor enclosure señor?" Edwardo asked in confusion. "But why would you need to talk with them?"

"This is important." Muldoon said taking command of the rest of the animal transportation. "As soon as they pick up tell them I want to talk with them immediately." Muldoon then called to the crane operator again over the radio.

"Okay we are going ahead with this operation. Let's get the honking ones out first then the long necked ones. Take it slow and by the numbers clear?"

"Clear señor." The man on the other end said as the crane carefully was moved into position.

"Ed you will have to be the eyes and ears of the drivers, we are going to have them one by one play their calls and I need you to make sure the right one turns on the music when needed. Got me?"

"Uh yeah sure, and the trucks going out to the pens?" Ed Regis asked, trying to get over what just happened.

"Don't worry about them." Muldoon said calming down a bit. "They have everything under control."

The next animal on the list was a young parasaurolophus who was checking the bars in front of it. Didn't bang the bars thankfully, but still the thing was large and loud and started honking like a goose as it was being moved.

"Ed move to the truck on your right and have them turn on their sound system." Muldoon said as the crew were heading towards where the cage was being moved to "Steady, steady…" Muldoon said moving his hands back so the animal had plenty of room.

The truck's stereo then blared with the right calls and the crested dinosaur returned the deep bellows. As the crew removed the lock to the cage, the animal immediately ran to the truck and started bellowing the return call.

"Okay team carefully I want you to surround and guide that thing into the back." Muldoon said as the workers moved around the truck and helped to guide the dinosaur into the backend.

"Seal her up and have her on her way." Muldoon yelled as the creature calmed down in the truck to be taken to the pens.

"Señor Muldoon that call is answering." Edwardo said from the phone.

"Good, give it here." Muldoon took the phone and his face went like stone.

"Muldoon here. I want to know one thing. That big one, is the door still holding?"

"The big one, si si señor it is still in place." The worker said on the other end. "The big steel door is holding for now. Why do you ask?"

"Good. As soon as you hear Dr. Rose is back I want you to have her give that animal a complete looking over. And I mean as soon as she is off of the helicopter you will let her know that it needs to be done or let me know she is back and I'll do it."

"Si Señor Muldoon I will. Is something wrong?" The worker asked on the other end.

"I hope not, but I am not taking chances with this." Muldoon hung up the phone and headed back to the work area.

"So what was that all about?" Ed asked, just about ready to give his letter of resignation to John after this.

"Something I hope I'm wrong about, and that isn't happening." Muldoon said as the animals continued to be loaded from the ship to the trucks. Things were getting a lot more complicated and a lot more dangerous, and Muldoon didn't like that one bit. He needed to be on top of things and he was responsible for the people and animals on the island as the Game Warden. If someone did something without telling him, then it likely wasn't being told to anyone else…and that was all the more terrifying.

"What are you doing Dr. Wu?" Muldoon muttered under his breath as he watched the rest of the animals unloaded. "Ed you have access to the supply request forms?"

"Yes, should be easy to get something you need." Ed said, waiting till the last animal was unloaded and then he was going to drive back to the command center for a shower and a change of clothes.

"We are going to need more tape players and more tapes immediately." Muldoon said to Ed before taking complete command of the situation with the dock workers. Ed just took a bit to catch his breath. This was seriously not what Ed had signed up for.

Far from Jurassic Park another disgruntled worker of John Hammond was also chaffing under the pressure of John Hammond's financial demands. Dennis Nedry was an overweight man who's computer brilliance was masked by several vices that made him hard to work with, but unquestionable in the quality of the computer system he could produce. That is, if he was given the specifics for the framework he was building for.

"John, I need to know what I am building for you. I make the program you ask for to your specifications and…"

"And they don't work." John Hammond just about roared at Nedry. "We have been using your programs sets for our needs and they don't work. Whatever you are doing isn't what I paid for and I am going to ruin you, absolutely ruin you, if you don't find a way to fix these bugs."

John's layer of calm was replaced with absolute fury as he berated his computer expert.

"John you have my team working around the clock to integrate your systems, but without letting me know what I'm building for I am…"

"You are told what you are building for and I am not going to budge on this. You bid for two, almost three, times the usual rate for work so I expect this to work without mistakes. If need be I will personally see to it that you are flown out here to fix everything in person." John said slamming the phone down on the receiver.

Nedry was at his limit. He was too deep into this project and while he was paid copious amounts for the work he had done, it wasn't nearly finished and he couldn't leave Ingen's contract without serious financial ramifications. It was then the overweight and somewhat overworked computer programmer ran his chubby and food stained fingers over a card he had been slipped months ago. A card for one Dr. Lewis Dodgson of BioSyn corporation limited. Nearly ruined because of his attempt to release a genetically modified rabies virus into an unsuspecting population in Chile, he was now InGen's main rival genetics expert and had offered a rather large monetary compensation for information about InGen's latest project.

Nedry dialed the phone. "Time to get what I am due." Thinking of all the ways that he could get back at Hammond for the copious amount of mistreatment in his eyes, Nedry knew that he was the only person who knew the millions of lines of code for the operating system. This meant he could add a few hidden bits to allow him to shut the whole thing down. But merely shutting down Jurassic Park wouldn't do, Nedry wanted compensation for the karmic suffering he endured.

All this chaos was only the tip of the metaphorical iceberg as it were, and about to be a rather trying time for one Dr. Martin "Marty" Gutierrez. He was an American biologist focused on reptiles in Costa Rica who had been called to a small fishing village to investigate a curious attack on a little girl on an isolated beach in the Carara National Park . The whole event started when a family had attempted a vacation seeing the sites of a well known but almost never visited area that was only to be reached by driving for about an hour down a dirt path deep into the Cabo Blanco Biological Preserve. This preserve was a small part of the larger park area, but deliberately kept under developed as to limit any effects on the wildlife within.

The girl, one Christina "Tina" Bowman, had been bitten by what appeared for all the world like some sort of mutated basilisk lizard, Basiliscus basiliscus, which was strange in the fact the animal supposedly had three toes and walked on its back feet. The girl had been attacked as she had attempted to approach the creature for some sort of school project and the thing had bitten her. Almost immediately the child's arm had swelled painfully indicating a rather obvious allergic bite to the lizard's saliva.

While the basilisk lizard was a common one in Costa Rica and curiously famously known for the odd behavior of running on it's back legs over water to escape predators, earning itself the name Jesus Christ lizard. Areference to the famous miracle upon the waters performed in the New Testament while Jesus led his followers into the Sea of Galilee and walked upon the waters after calming a raging storm. But what was interesting to Dr. Gutierrez is that basilisks can't stand on their hind feet usually. The creature is rather unstable on just back legs and only able to perform such a trick due to the natural selection of rather large rear feet and toes which spread the weight of the creature temporarily enough that for about a yard it could run along the surface tension of the water. At that distance the creature would run out of enough momentum to keep going and launch into the water and swim away. However, the child was adamant that the creature had three toes and walked on only two hind feet like a bird.

It was this bird connection that was striking to the good doctor as Tina had found the supposed lizard while tracking bird tracks along the beach where the incident occurred. It supposedly even chirped at her, but the basilisk lizard doesn't chirp. What was also curious is that the little girl had described the animal in such a way that it may have been a new species. No long crest along the dorsal part of the animal, the long snout that she had drawn on the picture when asked by Dr. Cruz to detail the animal which bit her.

Dr. Cruz was a meticulous physician who was in charge of the fishing village clinic and was familiar with many species which lived in the rain forest of the area. With one of the largest densities of biodiversity in the world and some of the densest coverage in the whole of Central America, new species were popping up all the time. One small lizard would easily be able to be lost within the forests filled with jaguars, multiple venomous species of snakes and spiders, the largest variety in amphibians, and the plant diversity equal to the amazon if not greater. Still Dr. Gutierrez had it in him to find said new lizard and hopefully bring a specimen for study back to the lab.

Upon finding the beach which Tina had been attacked before, Dr. Gutierrez took a moment to appreciate the natural beauty around him and the sheer lack of people within the biological preserve. It was open for tourism like many of Costa Rica's parks and nature trails to hope to promote ecological preservation, but this particular park was completely empty of human activity and that was good for the time being. The forest was filled with the sounds of birds, monkeys, and the rolling waves upon the beach. Armed with a dart rifle and a camera, Dr. Gutierrez started his investigation.

First was the beach itself, trying to find the signs of the attack from a couple of days ago. Probably it was washed out by now with the rising and falling tides, but if it did exist then he could find some footprints that could be specifically identified in case this new species started heading for more domesticated parts of the country.

The soft sand moved easily under the doctor's boots and the beach was covered with many tracks of various types. Crabs and fish popped in and out of holes to quickly feed and try to avoid being attacked by some shore bird or other opportunist. Dr. Gutierrez figured that these were all good signs of a thriving ecosystem, which the parks hoped to promote to offset the continued encroachment of development of the resort vacationing industry into the country. The idea was that as more people were able to see the natural beauty of Costa Rica there would be more funds to protect the land and ensure the protection of multiple species.

If the news of the girl's attack became public knowledge, then it was likely that one random occurrence with one lizard would be blown out of proportion and the backlash of the locals and visitors to fear any lizard they see could cause the death of unrelated animals. This had happened many time in human history, famously sadly when Jaws caused so many to fear sharks. As a biologist the good doctor was not going to allow ignorance to get out of hand if he could help it.

Dr. Gutierrez continued his trek down the public access way to the sands. The salty breeze was very relaxing and part of him was happy that no one was around at this time. Still though his search was proving futile as there was no sign of the scuffle he had hoped for, though he did find the panicked tracks of Tina's parents that were running back to the parking area. It was a start if nothing else. After several minutes of searching and eventually losing the trackway in the eroded layers of surf-zone sand, the doctor just decided to meander back and forth along the beach. Maybe he would find another lizard to test, or maybe him being a far larger individual than a little girl would have frightened off the culprit. What didn't help is that if Tina was right then the tracks of this lizard would have been lost among the countless roaming bird prints which dotted the sandy shoreline.

At first the doctor tried to look for weird marks of lizard prints were the hips would have swayed widely side-to-side mimicking the s-curve motion of a lizard's four legged movement and exactly what a basilisk does when it runs on the surface of water. This is very different from a bird which has legs directly under the body and moves with very little side-to-side sway with it's ridged skeleton. This was to no avail as all the tracks matched the movement pattern of bipedal birds. Even eliminating those obviously made by the webbed feet of sea-birds didn't make out any of the supposed mutated lizard tracks. This whole situation just made no sense to the biologist.

It was then that the scientist's concentration was broken by the sounds of a monkey in the trees whooping and hollering at something. Looking more closely the monkey in question had a partially eaten lizard in his hand and he was yelling at the ground where several fast-moving green things on two legs were chirping at him aggressively. Some even seemed to jump up and try to bite at the far larger monkey. Dr. Guitierrez tried to cautiously approach the monkey and the tree to get a better look at things. Maybe this was the lizard he was looking for, or at least a few of the same species. This was even more confusing to the doctor as lizards aren't social by nature. Some may group together for protection, to keep warm in climates with hibernation, or the larger predatory ones would help break apart a large carcass, but nothing close to social behavior had ever been recorded in squamates. In fact, some actively avoided proximity. The hope to take notes though was lost as the strange creatures before him somehow became acutely aware of him and gave one violent hiss at the monkey before running off into the forest so fast that the man hardly could see an individual amongst the group. This though did leave the monkey with the partially eaten lizard in his hand.

Carefully chambering a small dart, the doctor took aim and fired. It hit the monkey in the leg and caused the animal to drop the lizard to the ground and rush off through the trees. Dr. Gutierrez knew the dart was too small to cause the animal harm and would fall off in a few minutes. The dosage was for a small lizard and the size of the dart was also for such an animal so the monkey likely wouldn't feel more than buzzed for a short time.

Carefully, and with the use of gloves, Dr. Gutierrez retrieved the sample and bagged it up. It was green, about 8 inches long, with the top have missing (likely bitten off by the monkey that fed on it). The legs were still attached, and they were just as Tina had said: three toed. The hips and tail also were odd as it wasn't like that of a lizard. Lizard hips are splayed out as their locomotion required the stated side-to-side low to the ground pace which meant the legs flex horizontally with the tail almost in line with the legs being dragged behind the body. This animal though had the legs meet the hips at a near vertical angle and the tail was held up by the body. It was though a very brilliant green color with black markings pebbled with scales on the skin. Not quite lizard scales, and there were some weird almost feather like protrusions at greater concentrations along the back and tail. This was very odd as no lizard has feathers. Dr. Gutierrez quickly bagged the specimen for proper study and headed right back to his vehicle. He needed to get this studied right away at a more exhaustive biological research facility than what his park lab had.

This specimen was going to be frozen and air-mailed under biological specimen labeling with hazard warnings over the container as soon as the doctor got back to his lab. If there was a new animal with the ability to cause severe allergic reaction was making itself home in the reserve, then there would be well informed warnings and a panic would be prevented. Quickly Dr. Gutierrez drove back to the lab to document the sample and send if off to the University of Columbia's Tropical Disease's lab while Dr. Cruz had sent a sample of the material gained from the wound on Tina's arm to the University of San José. Hopefully someone would get some sort of answer back soon before tails of little girls getting bitten became the next crisis in the news.

To be continued…

Thank you my readers for the time you took to go through my latest chapter. I know this has almost no Disney related characters or references, but in fairness the last chapter had almost nothing from Jurassic Park and this is a full crossover that I hope I have the feel of both parks done right. Helpful criticism, reviews, observations, and other feedback is always welcome.


	8. Chapter 8

Jurassic Park What If Chapter 8

Jurassic Park belongs to the estate of Michael Crichton and Universal Studios

Disney stuff is Disney's stuff

I am not making a dime on this work and it is a completely fanfiction story. Please be so kind as to read and review.

To say that Ariel was an inquisitive individual would be an understatement. Both in her own curious nature and the fact she saw wonder in even the most mundane of things within Aurora's castle. She was curious about every utensil, bit of clothing, and never stopped asking questions to people and about people. Eric though thought that he was walking through time in the most bizarre way possible. In what was centuries in his past, having reached there by going a century into the future, but with developments in his past more advanced than anything he had in his time.

His world was that of the 1840s with the most advanced method of travel was sailing vessels and his small kingdom was in fact a colony of the Dutch West Indies in the Caribbean. Mostly autonomous, and thankfully well after the turmoil of the Napoleonic wars, he had more of a hands-on way of running things with the active trades of fishing and being a stop-off point along the rather lucrative trade between the rising United States and the consolidating European countries. This was why he would often find himself personally running the fishing vessels that harvested the vast stocks of fish for food that would be gathered, dried and salted, and then traded as rations with ships from around the world. Spanish, American, Mexican, English, French, and the various developing nations of Central and South America found his ports vital for restocking supplies for long travels in trade.

However, the very success of his small territory wound up getting him in quite a situation with his father-in-law as somehow in the kingdom of Atlantica the ancient magics which resided there had granted many of the species of animal life true sentience. Fish, crabs, seabirds, and other various species were intelligent and some even capable of human speech. But only so long as they resided near that kingdom and were under the effect of Triton's trident. All those outside of its effect or having not being born near it were of no greater mental abilities than any other animal. It took a massive amount of demonstrating to show Eric was not in fact supporting mass murder and even Ariel had to admit that some of the animals she dearly loved, say dolphins and a certain orca she adopted, could be as absolutely horrible to other species worst that what Triton had said humans were capable of.

Eric had completely agreed to one stipulation though, absolutely no whalers or whaling vessels were going to be anywhere near his kingdom. The rising modern world may have relied heavily upon the oils naturally produced by whales for lubricants, cosmetics, and some questionable medicinal things, but Eric would have none of it. He had seen the suffering of one beached dolphin as a younger man and had personally saved the creature returning it to the ocean least it die upon the shore suffering for every breath. Thankfully the young cetacean was returned to the waves and in fact was the first time Ariel had seen a human doing something so out of character from the stories her father had told her. Eric was hoping that whatever trade in technology or materials this agreement with Disney would allow him to essentially bypass the requirements of relying on whales and even the rise of human wastes that were filling the modern world's oceans.

Now though he was in this weird mix of the past and future of his own time where the people, the clothes, and the architecture were all from the past of his time, but there were so many advanced amenities that he was in awe of. First was that he could walk down the cobbled streets without fear of the infamous amount of waste that cities built up. Actual sanitation workers kept the streets clean and everywhere fresh water flowed for people to drink. The open markets teemed with fresh fruits from places even he had never heard of, and everyone had shoes on their feet. Not just the adults, but every child could afford footwear of some form and there were even schools within the walls of the castle next to people's homes. Even in his own time most families couldn't afford footwear for kids who would outgrow them too quickly to make use of them, and to have the economic reserves to allow for education regardless of social status was unheard of. Not undesired, but even the most advanced economies of Europe had severe difficulties with such in the 1840s.

Everywhere that Eric and Ariel looked there was prosperity, health, and a greater sense life than they had expected. Infections which were commonplace on the street in Eric's time he hardly saw in this supposedly more primitive period of history and Ariel was in awe of the sight of a dental office which advertised itself with bright clean smiles rather than the usual sight of successfully pulled teeth. Or in Ariel's case she noted how there weren't any signs of a cleaner shrimp offering services by waving its pincer's on top of a large chunk of coral.

With all this more technologically advanced way of living, the people still were getting around primarily by walking, or the occasional horse-drawn cart. As the walls of the castle were constructed long before Philip and Aurora had signed up with Disney, the walk-ways were still narrow and most of the items well within walking distance. It was unlikely those horseless carriages called automobiles and trucks would physically fit within this castle. Much less then travel with the speeds those things moved at or places for them to refuel.

"I have to ask; how exactly did you implement all of these…" Eric asked towards those leading the procession of royals down the street.

"These what?" Aurora asked as she smiled seeing the happiness and success of her kingdom.

"I'm not sure how to explain it but…" The oceanside royal was at a literal loss for words at the odd mixture of technology and culture before him. "I'm walking in a time from the 1300s but with technology and culture that are from the twentieth century."

"The advanced state of the kingdom both technologically and economically is actually one of the best parts of joining with Disney." Snow White answered. "Well more so for larger kingdoms." The younger looking lady smiled as she continued.

"It was really during our film that Disney was willing to offer a sweeter deal and allowed some more advanced trade to spread along with better standards of living." Cinderella continued. "With the constant exposure to the advances of the twentieth century around ourselves every day, all of us agreed that the best option was to better the lives of our people before just bettering the status of ourselves."

"Which is why we have been trying as hard as we could to keep Disney going as long and as true as we could." The older of the two Charmings continued his wife's point. "And we had hoped maybe seeing the benefits it could tangibly offer would have helped convince you honestly to be part of this. Though the dinosaurs seem to be something no one expected."

"Will we see more of them?" Ariel asked, momentarily taken back from investigating the curious booths and stores. Her completely innocent fascinations were a welcome respite from the constant and frantic worry that many of the more senior royals had been feeling. That same sense of wonder and awe had pervaded in each of them at one time and was one of the reasons that they always loved to see when new faces went to their parks. It held a magic that transcended spells, wands, incantations, or any of the wonderful things that magic had the power to do outside of the more modern world they lived part of their lives in.

"I don't see why not." Aurora answered. "While not the primary reason for our excursion today perhaps we could allow everyone to get used to Betsy as well as Cierra and Trumpet."

"Okay I figured out who Dianna and Jessica are, but who are these other dinosaurs and do they have a habit of violently protecting their family by ripping people to shreds?" The younger of the Charmings asked as he smirked.

"Betsy is a stegosaurus." Philip replied. "Which means she is a rather large herbivore with a spiked tail and plated down her back as well as…uh how do I put this politely….the brain no bigger than a walnut and a body which will be the size of an elephant when fully grown."

"So avoid the spikey tail, got it." The younger Charming made backing up motions with his hands.

"While my husband is correct, Betsy is a sweetheart who is far more relaxed than other dinosaurs…though honestly having a tail with about two and a half foot spikes on either end does help with that…"

"That's actually fascinating in it's own right." Calla smiled.

"So Betsy is this walking armored knight lizard, so what are Cerira and Trumpet?" Cavin asked, scratching his head at this rather confusing situation.

"Well Cierra is a triceratops." Aurora smiled. This caused no end of confusion with Cavin, Calla, Ariel, Eric, and both Charmings.

"Sorry a what?" Eric asked completely perplexed.

"Picture a four legged scaly creature with a parrot beak, two huge horns over the eyes pointed like lances, a big shield like thing at the back of the head, and about the size of a carriage." Cinderella explained. "Or at least that's what we have seen in movies."

"Why would an animal need a pair of lances and a shield on its face?" Eric asked confused.

"I'm guessing that it had to contend with the biggest carnivore ever to live." Snow said in awe.

"The most dangerous and vicious killer ever created by nature I would say." Her husband said in awe thinking what creature would cause such an animal to need defenses like lances on the head.

"You are ironically correct my friend." Aurora confirmed. Those exact words were once uttered by Walt Disney himself to describe the very animal in question. "Tyrannosaurus Rex, A forty two foot long, three ton carnivore with a mouth full of four to six inch long serrated teeth about as big around as a tent spike, two tiny arms that can dead-lift 450 lbs each, a sense of smell stronger than any group of hounds you can name, stereoscopic vision that can see as clearly as an eagle, and can reach speeds of up to twenty to twenty five miles an hour."

Aurora remembered well the horrifying depiction of the fearsome Tyrannosaurus Rex in Fantasia. It was a massive brute of a creature with huge forelimbs ending with wide-spread fingers each ending in a huge curved claw. The mouth was this massive square full of long sharp teeth and it ran biting and slashing at everything near it in a near blind rage before isolating and killing a single stegosaurus after what seemed a prolonged and gruesome fight where the Rex was smacked in the head by the stegosaurus with its thagomizer, but suffered no real damage before breaking the helpless herbivore's neck.

While perhaps a very interesting and artistically embellished scene, it was made with very little paleontological data and set to the tune of "The Rite of Spring", and it was completely wrong on several levels. For starters stegosaurus was a Jurassic Period dinosaur and lived 80 million years before Tyrannosaurus Rex ever evolved, and it Rexy was to be hit by an adult stegosaurus's thagomizer like that then there was a good chance she would find herself impaled by the blow and get a massive infection and starve. But Rexy was a smart hunter, as far as dinosaurs go, and far faster, more focused, and more powerful than Fantasia's Tyrannosaurs was.

If Rexy was hunting she was quiet, methodical in her approach to the goats in her enclosure. Aurora had seen her friend take down prey before and she took time to wait when the goat was completely distracted before attacking and biting down so fast with such a strong bite that the prey was instantly killed from the shock alone. It was perhaps grewsome, but the pain was over almost instantly for the goat, even if there was pain to begin with as the nervous system of the animal probably couldn't even register it was dead before all life was gone from it. Then Rexy would swallow her meal almost whole. If Rexy was on the hunt of an actual dinosaur, then likely she would have killed her food on the first bite as she broke the neck of her prey.

Stegosaurus was not built with a predator like Rexy anyway though. Betsy evolved to deal with the infamous predator of the Jurassic, Allosaurus. It was that predator which did have huge forearms with claws larger than a grizzly bear's, and Aurora knew that she was going to have to do a lot of research on that hunter when Dr. Wu finally had a successful clone to work with. It was smaller than Tyrannosaurus Rex, and didn't have the huge bite force, but it was bigger than any modern hunter and looked like it was built to take a lot of punishment. Aurora was hopeful that she would have some understanding of this creature sooner than her work on Rexy or any of the other predatory dinosaurs with the benefit of knowing dinosaurs far better over the few years of working with them. Still though…

"Rexy" Aurora thought to herself. She loved that dinosaur as a friend…well they were all her friends honestly, but Rexy was special to her. She had seen the movies, the comic books, the fossil mounts, but nothing could prepare her for a real Tyrannosaurus Rex, and nothing was really that right about them. She was a predator, the most powerful single land carnivore alive, but she wasn't a mindless killing machine. Rexy was agile, able to turn on a dime with that huge tail of hers, and that huge head was not only a powerful biting machine, but also one of the most impressive sensory and thinking machines ever evolved. Rexy had a sense of self, of family, and even her own unique personality to her and was genuinely curious about everything in and around her paddock. Now she wasn't the same problem-solving level of Dianna, but Rexy didn't throw her weight around needlessly. She learned how to stalk her prey, was highly observant to the slightest change in her environment, and killed her food out of necessity, not sadistic pleasure, and did so as quickly as possible.

Aurora not only respected Rexy, but also admired her. While it wasn't the same as being a human noblewoman, Rexy had some sort of prestige to her and the sense that she too was a monarch and ruler over all the land she surveyed. Aurora thought that perhaps she was projecting a bit, seeing herself in her friend, but being physically next to her and knowing all of Rexy's quirks, Aurora knew she had a connection to that great huntress and Rexy always was truly happy to see her. The seemingly ironic situation of her, the princess who had to be saved from a dragon, was so connected with living dinosaurs was not lost on Aurora, but Aurora knew that Maleficent choose the form of a dragon and was evil to the core to begin with because of her actions and not because giant reptiles were automatically evil. It was amusing to think about, and in a way her own sort of continued facing of a dragon.

Where Philip fought a literal manifestation of hatred, wrath, and corruption, Aurora was facing the evils of ignorance, fear, and arrogance to not only save her kingdom and get a park working, but also for the safety and wellbeing of what truly were innocent animals so that they and the humans of the park could be safe and happy. Rexy's first pen was too small and her environment all wrong. The raptors were unable to run free and needed mental exercise as well and physical activity their original pen didn't allow. The stegosaurs and triceratops at the park were almost given the wrong diets and needed their own space and population numbers for their happiness. The dilophosaurs needed a river system near their enclosure as part of their diet included fresh fish on top of red meat, which they couldn't get before. Heck Aurora needed to carefully make sure the sauropods had the right space and types of trees to get their required nutritional values and that was a lot of work to say the least. Thankfully a few right words and Hammond's constant appreciation for how fast things seemed to be going allowed Aurora to keep the dinosaurs content as any zoo animal could be and unlikely to attack the fencing.

Disneyland and all of it's minor issues, and the duties of a monarch, were honestly a cake-walk compared to the issues of Isla Nublar, but in all cases the hard work was worth it.

"And you have one of those here?" Eric said, completely in fear trying to imagine what such an animal as a Tyrannosaurs Rex looked like without the benefit of seeing a skeleton or an artistic rendering before. Honestly this was a fear shared with a number of others as the scale of such a creature. There was something that automatically shocked a human with predators, as the largest predator on land a human may encounter are giant bears and they would be a quick snack to Rexy.

"Oh no no no." Aurora calmed the newest prince's fears as best she could. "Rexy is safely on the island I work at and lives quite happily in her enclosure where she spends most of her time roaring at the top of her voice, occasionally hunting down a goat or two when she wants to stretch her legs, and more or less being a pampered somewhat feathered royal in her own right."

"Look I know that these animals look terrifying and they can do some serious damage if they wanted to." Philip said patting Eric on the shoulder. "But no one knows animals better than my wife and if she says they are okay then they are okay."

"Don't we live in a world were dragons exist anyway?" Cavin pointed out, which made some shocked to hear and others just nodded in agreement. "I mean rock dragons and gryphons live in rocky mountains, then there was the massive whale that nearly destroyed the castle's wall…"

The page was now lost in listing the variety of odd bestiary that live within the kingdoms connected to Disneyland and Disneyworld.

"Okay I'll admit I'm wrong." Eric said as he continued to be in awe at the level of living before him. The Blacksmith's shop that the tour walked past was open and the man at the billows was wearing a facemask and reflective metallic gloves that couldn't have possibly been from the time period of the world Eric was walking in.

"Is that fire?" Ariel asked as she stared in wonder at the sight of the large man who was working some large cord. With every pull of the cord Ariel saw orange, red, and yellow flashes of light jut from the pit the man was standing in front of. He then grabbed black metal tongs and pulled a glowing ingot from the forge and placed it upon a heavy metal anvil. Then the man lifted a heavy hammer and slammed down hard upon the ingot. The resounding echo of metal against metal rang again and again as Ariel watched in fascination. She saw him work the metal bit by bit as the iron was pounded and twisted before being returned to the flame to heat it up again.

"Wow." Ariel found herself staring in wonder at this sight so mundane to most was so amazing to this redheaded royal from the sea. She was, in the truest sense of the word, mesmerized by the sight of the flames and the sparks from the heated coals. Her large blue eyes seemed to grow larger, so much so that one could almost see the flames in her eyes.

Ariel saw the fire from a distance, how it glowed with a range of colors from white to yellow to red. It looked like it was alive to her, unlike anything under the sea. While yes she had seen candles and had asked about them, but no one could accurately tell her exactly what flames and fire were. Eric had tried and explained about burning, heat, and the dangers associated with uncontrollable flames…which Ariel saw firsthand when Eric's ship had exploded when the fireworks and the powder kegs exploded during that storm where Ariel saved Eric's life. It was dangerous without question, and yet humans had some control over it and had used it to make so many wonderful things. Not just the bright fireworks of Eric's kingdom, but metalsmithing, reliable sources of heat for their homes, flying machines and land things that they were told burned fuel to work, and the food humans made seemed to have so many fascinating tastes from the use of fire to heat them. Ariel didn't really understand how it worked though, and often would be so fixated on the details of every small thing around her that she never was able to get a straight answer to the details of what it was and how it worked.

"What is he wearing?" Eric asked in curiosity as to the face plate and reflective metallic gloves.

"Heat shielding gloves and facemask." Philip smiled. "Wish I had that when I fought Maleficent. It would have made the fight easier to say the least."

"Heat shielding?" Ariel pondered. "This fire is very hot then?" This caused everyone to just look at her in the most shocked expression any had shown in years.

"You don't know what fire is at all?" The older of the two Prince Charmings asked perplexed.

"No, I mean under the sea we just don't have it." It then hit everyone as the metaphorical meteor to the head.

"Because water smothers flames." Calla said aloud what everyone was thinking. This complete shift in perspective made clear to all just how different a world Ariel had come from. This long forgotten part of all their experiences with becoming part of the modern world and how it affected each of their lives came back in full.

"Ariel do you love to sing?" Aurora said with a very wily smile on her face. Completely changing the subject at hand, the question sparked the newest princess's interest.

"Of course, even if Sabastian sometimes complained that I wasn't being serious about my music lessons, but could you blame me for wanting to investigate human artifacts.?" Ariel's genuine smile was contrasted with Aurora's thoughtful one as the whole group was now wondering what Aurora was thinking.

"There is someone I want you to meet who adores singing." Aurora couldn't hold Ariel back as the redhead grabbed the more veteran princess's arm and grinned ear to ear.

Being led out of the castle walls, the associated royals, their guards, and two dinosaurs found themselves on a vast expanse of brushland surrounded by wooden fortifications and the occasional tent. These temporary structures were usually used as the grounds for field testing of the knights of the realm for martial duties and combat skills far from the economic center of the kingdom. While not nearly that far from their actual homes, the warriors would camp, go through physical and mental training, keep up their archery skills, and prepare themselves for the potential of actual combat as needed. Strangely though these camps were barely used and not set up in the typical defensive manner. They instead seemed to be arranged in such a manner as to be lining out the boundaries of a game field of some sort; focused on keeping outside eyes away from the area the enclosed and seem to be open to viewing what was in the field.

"Is this some sort of concert area?" Ariel asked in awe as she ran her fingers over the ropes and multi-colored tents.

"Sort of." Aurora smiled as lead the procession through into the enclosure.

"Oh this does sound fun." Snow smiled. "is there a band being set up here?"

"Sort of Snow, but it is a very special performer." Aurora smiled at her long-time friend.

"Performer, as in only one mistral or singer?" Cinderella questioned. "Who exactly are we meeting Aurora?"

"One very special friend who just can't wait to share her musical talents with everyone she greets." Aurora said as they passed through the barricade, a concealing tent, and into the enclosed space.

"So who exactly is she introducing?" the younger of the two Charmings asked Philip, prodding his colleague for a clue as to the surprise.

"I'm not telling friend. I have found it best to let Rose have her moments of surprise." Philip smirked back. "Course getting the surprise of 'dear here are some eggs from work that we need to carefully care for that will hatch into prehistoric animals that we need to learn how to take care of with almost no understanding of their nature' was not what I expected her to come home with as a surprise, but they seem to behave themselves." Philip said pointing his thumb at the two therapods following them.

"That had to be quite the conversation." The older Charming chuckled. "Almost as much as the whole 'the carriage was a pumpkin' bit." Charming said remembering how absolutely crazy his wife's story about her Fairy Godmother appearing before her and magically altering a pumpkin into a full-sized carriage and shifting the mice into horses.

"Everyone I want you to meet the so far only star of our little music theater." Aurora yelled out as the band of people walked in front of an open space filled with odd assorted plants and brush that seemed foreign to the pines and oak of the forest of the kingdom. Ginkos, conifers, and a few low-lying shrubs dotted the area. It was an enclosure with high walls of thick wood with a fountain running fresh water constantly into a large basin. Strange though that there were no benches, no stage, nothing that indicated where a band would be playing. And the scale on the inside was enormous. The tents had hidden well what was, in reality, a massive arena larger than a jousting field. And the colors painted on the wood were tranquil blues and greens which made the whole area as if you were walking into a peaceful forest, not dissimilar from the real one outside, but again strangely different plants.

"Everyone, this is Trumpet." At the sound of her name a very deep bellow resounded through the enclosure. An echoing tone deep and sounding very much like the noise of a brass trumpet. It was far louder though and the strange honking tone that none of the more musical of the group could place.

It was then that everyone saw a massive approaching figure walking towards them. It had relatively skinny forelimbs, huge hindquarters, and a massive beak for a mouth. The creature's cheeks were somewhat expanded and the whole body was about 37 feet in length and over 13 feet tall. Colored in a mix of yellows and browns upon it's flanks with a brilliant blue colored head which was crowned with a small curved crest. It moved quite gracefully for something so large and almost glided as it moved. The creature altered its rather loud honk with a series of softer almost whistling noises that sounded even friendly to the newcomers.

"Another dinosaur I take it?" Eric said, rather startled that something so huge could exist. This creature was on a scale far greater than anything he had seen on land and moved with a gentle almost serene method.

Aurora called out in the same honking noise they had heard from the animal and the two started what was truly a duet as low frequency rumples filled the air. It was rather shocking to say the least and was even more so when Aurora walked up and ran her fingers over the flank of the creature.

"Trumpet is an edmontosaurus." Aurora smiled "And like all duckbills, uses her complex vocalizations to communicate with other herd members over vast distances. She is quite the singer and loves to give concerts to all willing to listen."

"She's not going to bite is she?" Eric asked, very concerned about his wife being so close to something so large and obviously powerful.

"Not at all." Aurora reassured her guests. "She's actually a rather gentle herbivore." This explanation was punctuated by Trumpet demolishing a huge mouthful of palms. The great animal's maw opened wide as each bite shred through several pounds of plant matter, but Trumpet didn't swallow her food at first but rather her cheeks spread wide as she moved the food from one side of her mouth to the other while batteries of thousands of teeth shred through the foliage. Then when it was fully processed, the mass of food went back into her gullet to be digested.

"Well care to try?" Aurora turned to her new friend and asked. Ariel looked upon her new friend completely lost as to what she was getting at.

"Try what exactly?" the red head asked, still in awe of something so large being on land as Ariel had never seen a creature as breathtaking as the dinosaur before her.

"Sing with her." Aurora answered. The large animal moved her head from side to side as Ariel got a good look at the deep black eyes of the large planteater. They were reflective and brilliant, and Ariel could see her reflection in them. Ariel brightly replied and tried a single reverberating sound of ahaaha that Trumpet matched as the larger of the two singers bellowed.

"That is amazing." Ariel nearly jumped at this. "What did she say to me?" the redhead looked at the honey blonde and nearly giggled.

"Essentially the equivalent of hello." Aurora explained. This got a lot of "awes" from many of the audience.

"So you have a giant scaly pet parrot here?" The older Charming asked Philip. Trumpet just continued releasing honking sounds that were very much like a loud goose.

"More like a beaked elephant honestly." Philip said in reply. "With a diet to match and the care needed very much like one."

"So who names all these…pets of yours Aurora?" Calla asked as she kept her distance from the rather large creature in front of them. She wasn't really afraid with her host seeming to have complete control of the situation, but instead was waiting for her time to fully appreciate the creature before her.

Snow White was fascinated with Trumpet, but in a far different way. She recognized the similarity to this animal before her and one of the dinosaurs in Fantasia. The duck-like bill and tiny forelimbs looked very much like one of swamp-bound creatures in the movie that was seen shoveling wet mush from a pond into its mouth. But this animal didn't act at all like that creature and was instead processing huge amounts of drier plant material and greens that it clipped with its massive beak. The color was also a lot different as Snow remembered the monochrome greens or browns that animal in the film had, and how it moved like an over-sized lizard dragging its tail behind it. This very colorful and dynamic creature before her was completely different from such lethargic depictions and instead was covered so brightly it made the young princess giggle a bit the same way her brightly colored bird friends did when she saw their playful antics. Snow White was left pondering to herself then how much she wanted to see this other park just to amuse herself with how wrong the assumption of other dinosaurs were, and perhaps have her own sort of safari like Disney used to do depicted the beauty of far-away lands and animals.

Cavin was equally entranced, so much so that he failed to notice the stealthy approach of Dianna to his side. What didn't help is that the padded feet of the huntress had evolved to make as little noise as possible. While Dianna could make a lot of sounds, signals, and had a very complex and detailed method of communication, typically hunters that give themselves away trying to frighten prey unnecessarily die out pretty quick. Thus this remarkably quiet wolf/hawk/lizard hybrid could move so stealthily that a ninja would be impressed, and without even realizing that she was doing in.

"CHIRP." Dianna released a short and rather nasal utterance right next to Cavin who just about jumped out of his shirt.

The young page fell onto the ground scrambling to get back up as his eyes had no focus on what just happened. Then he saw the iridescent black form of the raptor he had seen yesterday rip apart a man in just second was chirping at him like some sort of chick. It then moved its head from side to side like a raven or crow would before it blinked it's eyes. This wasn't like a human blinking though as a completely different lens flashed over her eyes that went back and forth horizontally from front corner of the eye to the back and quickly back to its resting place.

"Okay, uh what is she doing?" Cavin asked, understandably worried and quite confused in the situation he found himself in. "Is she going to attack me or…"

"Naw. If she was going to attack, she would be hissing at you with her tail up and her arms out showing her claws." Philip said as he stroked the back of Dianna's head causing the raptor to utter some sort of "churrring" sound that was similar to a large bird but resonated like a cat purring.

"You can talk with them too?" the older Charming asked his long-time friend.

"Not truly talk with them, but I can understand their body language fairly well." Philip said as he kept the meat-eating scythe toed huntress docile. "No idea why she was focused on Cavin though."

"She was asking if he was well." Aurora answered, turned from her far larger friend for a moment.

"If I was well?" Cavin said scratching his head. It was odd to say the least, and looking directly into the eyes of this creature was somewhat unsettling. She had a very piercing gaze to her, not at all like the soulful eyes of say a dog or the mysterious eyes of a cat. No her eyes resonated a sense of thinking, methodical mental faculties running like gears within her head. Dianna didn't seem malicious though, wasn't hissing or aggressive, but

"The closest to it at least." Aurora continued. "Dinosaurs do not have as complete or often complex a meaning in their communications, so the closest literal word would be a simple question of 'well?'."

"Are you saying he is asking him to talk with her or…." Cinderella asked, very interesting in this unique cross species communication as she herself had some experience in this.

"A better translation would be 'are you okay?'. Since the sound is made while they socialize with fellow pack members." The golden-haired princess said to her older friend.

"They hunt in packs?" Cavin said in shock, reeling mentally at what a group of these animals could do after what he had witness against an experienced combatant just a few hours before.

This caused a number of the princes to get worried as the idea of a group of coordinated hunters like these in this age of technology would be easily terrifying.

"So do wolves, that is why we have dogs is it not?" Aurora said trying to calm everyone's fears.

Ariel just smiled at this as she ran her fingers over the pebbly skin of the hadrosaur in front of her. The great animal was content to munch on the palms and ferns before it. Mashing the plants in a rather interesting chewing motion that was very different than that of those horned things that people kept in Eric's kingdom. Cows she thought they were called.

"Sounds just like my friend Spot." Ariel smiled.

"And reminds me a lot of Max back home. Our dog, he's kind of an oversized puppy of sorts and always socializing with new people." Eric said. "They don't try to lick your face do they?"

"Never tried with us." Philip said thinking about it. Now he had royal hounds who did that, but never did he ever get licked by a dinosaur. What he had noticed is that they would rub the sides of their necks almost like a cat to show affection leaving behind a slight oily secretion behind on his skin, but never anything with the tongue.

"And if I may ask," Eric asked, as he stroked his chin. "Why would she be asking Cavin here if he specifically was okay?"

This caused many of the assembled to ponder a bit, as Aurora smiled knowing the answer.

"Remember when I said raptors are intelligent pack-hunters?" To which most nodded. "And if what happened yesterday is correct, Dianna and Jessica saved Cavin's life?" Again the other members of the group nodded.

"Then the answer is obvious." Aurora smiled, and a few of them got what she was getting at.

"Wait, you're saying that she is asking Cavin if he is okay? From being attacked yesterday?" Snow White said, causing futher realizations. "She not recognized Cavin as a part of the pack who was in danger yesterday, but also is remembers he was in trouble and wants to see if he is okay after over a day?"

"Absolutely." Aurora answered kindly. "See Dianna sees our family as her pack, and she will viciously protect her pack and pack-mates with her life. She also is exceptionally smart and raptors form tight social bonds. Therefore I think that much like say a crow or other social bird, she not only can consider the wellbeing of those of her 'pack' a priority, but she also checks up on those that were in danger as part of her socialization."

"Wow. May I?" Cavin asked as he stood back up and raised his hand up towards Dianna.

"Sure, just don't wave your hand around like you are wounded unless you want her to scratch you." Philip smiled. Cavin then tentatively stroked the back of Dianna's head and neck. Her feathers were beautiful and gleamed with reds, green, and blue on top of the black base due to the iridescent sheen.

"Cute." Calla giggled, before she felt a bump behind her. "Huh?" At this she saw the other dinosaur pushing against her shoulder trying to get attention.

"Go on." Philip smiled. "Jessica wants some attention too." Calla started carefully rubbing the frilled predator's own head. "Just like a oversized puppy at times, but mind the teeth as she has a very toxic bite."

"Toxic bite?" Calla asked confused. Unsure what the word toxic meant, but if this animal's spit blinded a full-grown man in an instant then it wasn't a good thing in Calla's mind.

"Just don't put your hand near her teeth and she'll be just fine." Philip reassured the young princess. Calla smiled as she got more comfortable around this small near dragon-like creature. It was weird for sure, and the creature's collapsed frill was interesting to the touch. It felt like very fine leather that had a small series of groves that were likely the boundaries of scales that were stretched over the seemingly solid rods that held the display behind the head along the animal's neck. Jessica whooted softly as she was now getting pampered.

"Is she part owl?" Calla asked smiling, getting a few of the others to giggle.

"Well I guess giant scaly pets can be dealt with, but how exactly does this work with Disney?" Eric asked, deciding he should at least get a closer look at the massive duck-faced herbivore that towered over him. His fear and his reservations were replaced with humor as the whole animal was actually comically looking with the way her front legs were so tiny in comparison to her rear legs and the massive tail and huge rump looked very humorous to the sea-side prince.

He had heard stories of elephants before getting to see a picture book recently with one in them and the reaction to when he saw that great beast was identical to his reaction to seeing Trumpet up-close. The tiny crest, the massive beak, and the occasional movement on its two legs was an odd seeming hodge-podge of different creatures all in one beautiful and fascinating organism.

"Disney doesn't have a clue, and they aren't in the business of live-animal displays so nothing that interferes with their business model." Philip answered. "And I'm completely happy with that as I really don't want to have any of them trying to do their own dinosaur park at this point."

"Well I have a question." The younger Charming asked. "Dianna and Jessica are normal names, and even Betsy makes sense for that big stego whatever, but who named this one 'Trumpet'?"

"That was me actually." Philip said as he shrugged. "She just kept honking when she first hatched and sounded like a trumpet so that is what I called her when I was feeding her."

"Aurora you may want to name any kids you have." The younger Charming chuckled at this.

"Put a sock in it Florian." Philip shot back at the most veteran of the Disney princes.

"Florian?" Eric asked, now chuckling at the rather irate young man's shift from very cocky to rather irritated.

"I told you to not call me that Philip." The younger looking man responded, as his face was becoming ever more red.

"Do I want to ask what that was about?" Eric looked at the older Charming for a response, finding a rather exacerbated expression on the other man's face. Taking a moment to collect himself, Charming replied.

"Remember how there was the confusion in the limo?" Charming asked, and Eric nodded in reply. "That all started because Disney didn't bother to put Florian's name in the credits for the film and instead just referred to him as 'the prince', or as 'the charming prince'." The prince named Charming explained. "As there was never an animated film as big as Snow White before and no idea if there would be others like it…they turned a title into his name."

"That, is actually very funny." Eric said, taking a moment to chuckle for the first time since he was in this new and very confusing universe with people from vastly different time periods, on top of what he would have only described as dragons without knowing better. Eric still couldn't wrap his mind around the odd backward and forward flow of time he had to deal with.

"How fast do they grow?" Ariel said, completely ignoring the conflict behind her and rather engrossed in the seemingly affectionate giant plant processing machine in front of her.

"Depends on how much food they get, but usually 5 years for the smaller species and for a gal like Trumpet it can take about 10 to 15 years to reach their maximum size." Aurora explained as the gentile giant allowed the red-headed princess to pet her.

"Okay I am honestly impressed." Eric said, slowly getting used to the fact his wife was actually safe among these giant creatures from a bygone era. He could accept the existence of things beyond his limited world, after all his wife was a mermaid and he did have to ram his ship into the sea witch to kill her, but he still had no idea what it was that made these creatures…these dinosaurs so special when compared to other lifeforms.

"So what exactly is it that got most of you so, for a lack of a better word, shocked by seeing them. I get it that these creatures are very different from anything from my island or what I have seen in books. But what makes seeing these animals so different, and why we are talking about it what is up with the names. 'Edmontosaurus', 'dilophosaurus', 'triceratops'? Sound like something out from some stuffy university." Eric tried to joke.

It was if today was going to be a series of revolations for all parties involved, as many had forgotten all the small differences their world had from the modern world and all the things considered common knowledge from the world of Disney were complete unknowns to those of the magical worlds they came from.

"No one told them did they?" Snow White said as she came to a shocking realization. "Or not yet at the very least."

"Told us what?" Ariel said taking a moment from her pampering of the rather large creature before her.

"Oh no it is completely okay, we all had to learn this when we came to this world…and it was rather a shock to say the least." Florian, aka the younger Charming, said as he knowingly shook his head. "I have a question, how old do you think this planet is exactly?"

"I don't know." Eric shrugged at the question. "Maybe 3 thousand years or so? Why what does that have to do with this giant reptile things you keep calling dinosaurs?"

"Ariel how old do you think the planet is?" Snow White asked her.

"I can't honestly answer that actually." Ariel sheepishly put her finger to her lip with a deep look of thought on her mind. "Merfolk measure time very differently from humans as we can live our whole lives without going to the surface and often just know what things are going to happen by the changing of the flow of the currents or the rising of the tides….I'm sorry we just don't have a concept of year that is like humans do to answer."

Charming was the first to start after getting the fuller understanding of the situation at hand. "Eric what if I told you that our planet, the same world but different realities with each of ours being separate but still liked to a planet we call 'Earth', is about 4.5 billion years old."

Eric's jaw dropped at this revelation. "Billion, with a 'b' billion years old?"

"And dinosaurs are a group of animals that were extinct for about 65 million years." Charming continued. "Myself, I found this out about 30 years ago and Walt did a rather famous attempt to show what the world back then was like with artistic adaptations of these animals in a movie called Fantasia."

"And from what I can say, our understanding was very much off from what that movie had." Cinderella said. "So you are looking at animals that have been extinct for a time so long ago that we still have difficulty wrapping our heads around it."

Eric was dumbstruck to say the least. The idea of deep time was beyond the scope of his understanding.

"Parallel worlds separated by centuries but we are all talking together, giant creatures older than the Bible would say the world is, and somehow they are alive and you have an island of them in the Pacific with even more names that I probably can't pronounce properly."

"In a nutshell, yes." Philip said with a smirk.

"Why not." Eric said just throwing his hands up at smiling. "At this point so long as they aren't trying to kill either my wife or myself I can accept just about anything." It was at that point his stomach grumbled.

Philip smiled at this. "My friend have I got a treat for you."

"Should I get my best suit on?" Eric said looking down at his rather bland looking typical work attire. For a tour of the castle grounds it was appropriate, but for any sort of public appearance it would be completely inappropriate.

"Nope; the attire is strictly tennis shoes and jeans." Philip said slapping Eric's back.

"Philip what are you thinking?" Aurora asked her husband as she patted Trumpet's head.

"That we have been playing around with the formalities for too long and it's about time we actually showed these two guests of ours some treats in Disneyland and a few of the perks that come with this place." Philip said as he cupped his arm around his wife's shoulder. "You're here with me, the gang is together, and we are supposed to show these two around so I say we go out and have some fun while we still can."

"Oh that's a great idea. I take it I'll take these two back to the castle and then you'll…" Cavin said as he was going to lead Dianna and Jessica back home.

"Nope. You are coming too." Philip said to the young page.

"What we just head out for a few hours and be back for dinner or something?" Calla said with a smile.

"I say why not." Philip smiled. "When is the last time we have all had a real vacation? I say this is the perfect time to have one." The most forward of the princes said as he gave his wife a hug. "What do you say Rose?"

It was not but 20 minutes later that said princess was holding up her hands yelling "WEEEE!" as she and her husband were dropping down the wet and wild ride of Splash Mountain. The long lines seemed to completely dissipate for the royal crowd as if something magical allowed them to pass by without notice.

"We aren't getting in the way of all these people having fun are we?" Ariel asked as she was patting down her now dripping shirt with a towel handed to her by Cinderella.

"Cutting in line? Nope not at all." Cinderella said with a smile on her face. "That's one of the few parts of this place that is actual magic." Cinderella directed Ariel to look towards the crowds. "See we can walk among them without being noticed and if we want to take a space on any of these rides we instantly show up in the perfect seats." The older princess smiled as she explained. "Walt considered it a small thank you for what he got from us." The strawberry blonde looked like she was remembering something important for a second.

"Are you okay Cinderella?" Ariel asked.

"What? Oh I am sorry just remembering an old friend….people of this world live such short lives compared to us, but it just means how precious it is to value life." Cinderella smiled with a distant thought on her mind as she looked at all the kids and family walking around the Mainstreet and looked up at the statue of Walt with Mickey.

"He was a friend, wasn't he?" Ariel asked looking at Cinderella's face.

"He was, very much so." The older princess confirmed. "He always loved my story and he saw himself in how my story of hard work and not giving up on who you are ultimately was rewarded." She sighed thinking about this for a moment. "It is also why he reserved my castle for Disneyworld rather than Disneyland, which honestly Snow should have had one before Aurora but now it works just fine."

"What other fun things do you enjoy doing here?" Ariel asked, as the California heat was able to dry her hair off enough to be comfortable. "Do you have a favorite ride, or a place that means a lot to you?"

"I think that we first should get something to eat." Cinderella said as the rest of the group started to form at the exit of the ride. "And then show you a bit more of the park."

"And maybe a bit of the outside world as well?" Ariel said, with the same joyful enthusiasm that she had when first entering the human world so many years ago.

"I am sure that we can try that tomorrow, just because this place is so big and I figure you want to see everything." Cinderella smiled at her new friend.

"Oh she's got that look in her eyes." Eric smiled, having just had an equally fun time going on the ride for the first time in his life. Even trying his first "hot-dog" which he was reassured several times was not named for the meat in the sausage but that it looked like a dachshund and the name was considered catchy. Nice for a snack, but not enough for anything close to a full meal.

"What look?" Charming asked his new friend.

"The one that means she is going to grab your arm and almost force you to show her everything." Eric explained. "My wife is one of the most curious people I have ever met."

"Well if you weren't so interesting then would I have fallen for you?" Ariel retorted. "Humans are such fascinating species, that is why I had an entire collection of human artifacts and learned as much as I could about human culture…it didn't go as well as I had wished though."

"What happened exactly?" Snow White asked, still exuding her extremely calming presence.

"She used a fork as a hairbrush." Eric said with only a slight bit of humor. "It was odd to say the least."

"Why didn't you ask him how utensils work?" Charming said, trying hard to not laugh at the absurdity of the stated situation.

"I actually couldn't….it wasn't something I was proud of but for the gift of legs I sold my voice to a sea witch….I couldn't talk to Eric and my friend Gabriella's special form of hand communication was unknown to Eric."

"Hand communication?" Charming asked, to which Ariel started moving her hands around to demonstrate.

"I'm sorry if that doesn't make much sense." Ariel shrugged somewhat sheepishly being slightly embarrassed. "My friend couldn't speak and so she talked with her hands like that."

Snow White just started messaging back with hand movements, which caused Ariel's face to almost light up instantly.

"You talk with your hands too?" Ariel just about cried with joy.

"American sign language was something I decided to learn when I realized that some of the children who came to the parks were deaf or couldn't speak." Snow White said happily. "I didn't think it was right for them to feel ashamed when others around them could talk. I haven't had and oppertunity to use it for a while, so thank you for the chance to try again."

"What have I missed?" Aurora said, acting very different from her more refined and highly self-controlled self, as if something had been lifted from her.

"Oh yeah you needed a real day off." Philip smiled.

"Well someone's in a good mood." The younger of the two Charmings said as he noticed the more light-hearted nature of Aurora, who just realized she was acting like a more typical 16 year old American and not her usually refined and focused self.

"After dealing with crazy dinosaurs, two jobs, a lot of responsibilities, and an attack by barbarians, I say we needed a real day off." Philip explained. "And we haven't had a real vacation in too long with our worries of survival always on the mind, so what better time to spend with new friends than having fun?"

This was punctuated with Calla gleefully yelling "WEE" at the top of her lungs while Cavin was spinning the tea-cups they were in faster and faster.

Sadly this joviality was interrupted by a very loud and frustrated voice yelling down the center walk-way of the park.

"I'm telling you Fauna that just won't work." A rather stuffy and crotchety old man in a blue garment with a bent hat said. "And you darn well know it won't." The man cleaned his specticles with his long white beard and huffed at the floating form of the green wearing fairy.

"But why can't we help Rose, she has so much she has to do and I can't just let those poor creatures get messed around with like some highschooler's science experiment." A hovering woman dressed in green said to a old-looking man with a walking cane

"Because you know, and I know, and they know, and we all know that magic doesn't work like that outside of this park or the one in Orlando." The man said rather gruffly. "And even if I as a human can walk outside of these walls and go to other lands, you are a fairy and can't leave the park area to go off on some wild adventure on some Dr. Frankenstein island."

"But Merlin please." Fauna pleaded as she floated around the man in question.

"Now look you old codger we can't just let her go off on her own on this. It is too dangerous for her and you know it too." A shorter blue colored hovering fairy said pointing at the man.

"Too dangerous, too dangerous….bah that's not too dangerous." The man said in reply. "You trying to break through that limited barrier that surrounds these modern messes of concrete and paint is dangerous Merryweather." The old man shot back. "You can't do it, Fauna can't do it, Flora can't do it, Blue can't do it, Cinderella's godmother can't do it, and you all know it."

"What is going on here?" Aurora asked approaching the arguing group before her, adopting her usual more reserved and regal attitude in an instant.

"Oh Rose just the one we were talking about." Flora smiled at her adopted daughter. "Just this dusty grump is saying that we can't help you with your issue with that island of yours." The red-garbed fairy then blasted the man with a concentrated beam which sparkled like dust in the rays of the sun turning his garments pink. This caused the man to grow rather frustrated and blast her garments blue with a beam from his cane before turning his clothes back to the color they were.

"And this meddling busybody doesn't want to listen to the facts of the matter when it comes to anything beyond the boundaries of the Disney Park areas. So at least I am not trying to solve with magic something beyond magic's abilities." He shot back before taking a moment to calm himself and approach Aurora.

"Merlin it is a pleasure to see you again." Aurora curtsied to her associate, who bowed respectfully to her and the rest of the royals present.

"A pleasure to see you too my dear. And I am not saying I don't want to help but, magic just won't work outside of the park." Merlin continued. "That is why Walt built these castles after all. To harness the power of magic of our worlds and putting that into the park and his movies?"

"Merlin, my friend, do you know what the situation is?" Aurora asked as she attempted to cool the arguing magic users before they caused a public scene.

"No, as these three wouldn't listen to the fact of our known limits." Merlin admitted. "My dear perhaps we should talk about this in private as I'm likely going to need a drink while hearing this foolishness."

"Is there a place where we can eat in private in this park?" Ariel asked as she looked around seeing all of the open parlors and dining areas. There was a cookie and sweets store, but nothing looked like a place with enough privacy to not be seen.

"Oh yes of course Club 33 remember….oh sorry who are you?" Merlin said as he checked his spectacles and walked over to the two additional people he had never met.

"Merlin this is Princess Ariel and Prince Eric." Aurora said introducing her new friends. "They are the newest part of the Disney family and here to get a tour of our park." Merlin bowed his head politely at this, just somewhat hiding his tired patience.

"Yes yes, a pleasure." Merlin said, seeming to calm down a bit. "Now come come we will discuss this in private." The bearded wizard marched off guiding the seemingly large association of actual Disney beings through the seemingly unobservant crowds back towards main street.

"Hey Calla, Cavin, get a move on will you? Party's going this way." Philip yelled out at the top of his lungs getting the two teenager's attention.

"Where are we heading to now?" Eric said, still finding it odd that he is completely ignored by all the people dressed in character shirts, smelling of sunscreen, and the bunches of pigeons that seemed to be everywhere nibbling on the scattered waste of food stuffs dropped by the masses of people heading from one ride or show to the next.

"Oh just follow me." Merlin said as he walked to a door with the number "33" written on it and walked right inside. The completely unassuming door led into a cozy and rather looking dinning area with deep atmosphere. There were black and white photos of various famous people at their dining tables, a well-stocked wine selection, and was filled with formally attired men and women with Disney name tags.

"Ah hello Merlin, will you be needing your usual table today?" The man said noticing the old wizard approaching him.

"Oh no I think we will be needing a far larger table today my friend." Merlin smiled as the server noticed there were about a dozen who had walked in with the famous sorcerer.

"Oh, oh yes of course. Sorry I didn't see everyone was here too." The man smiled as he moved quickly accessing a door hidden in the wall that opened quickly and exposed an even more elaborate room within. "A pleasure as always."

"What is this place?" Ariel asked, as the even more elaborate decorations within. Photos, placards, artifacts from various films and shows lined the elaborate walls. The tables were covered in various colors of wood and the fine chairs looked as if they were hand crafted for royals like those in Eric's castle.

"A little place to unwind and relax without the usual bothering of others, and where we can talk in private." Merlin smiled as he took out his pipe and started to smoke. "Now what is all this about an island? And why would you need my help doing something that can't be done by magic?" The old wizard smiled a bit as he relaxed in his favorite chair.

"Merlin, you are aware at how Disney hasn't been doing so well lately…" Aurora sheepishly started, very unsure how to convey the story to her friend.

"Course of course. I have to deal with that fact for years." Merlin said as he burned the tip of his finger with his match. He quickly waved off the heat and looked back at Aurora.

"A while ago I decided to further my education and earned my doctorate in ornithology. I had hoped that perhaps some sort of modern job could help offset the costs from what Disney wasn't able to potentially provide anymore and it has done more than I could have imagined."

"A doctorate you say?" Merlin smiled. "Why congratulations my dear that alone would be cause for celebration. But what does that have to do with an island."

"Well the job I was hired for, is rather unique…there is no way to put this subtly so…the company that hired me did so as an expert in animal communication as they, well cloned dinosaurs."

This caused Merlin to nearly drop his pipe.

"Sorry sorry, did you say clone dinosaurs?" Merlin's glasses almost fell from his face. "As in taking genetic information and growing in a lab living breathing animals from the Mesozoic Age?"

Aurora nodded in the affirmative.

"But if they are cloned, and viable, what exactly is the problem…. beyond the possibility of mass human casualties." Merlin said, taking a long drag on his pipe and intensely listening to everything Aurora was about to say.

"Hey now, my wife has made sure that the animals and people haven't had accidents, but something is apparently wrong with the animals at the park and no one there seems to want to acknowledge it." Philip said, defending his wife's honor.

"Yes yes I'm sure that Aurora is a fantastic animal expert. But what is the problem then?" Merlin said, waving off the prince's seemingly knee-jerk reaction that seemed very much like a repeated story at this point.

"They are clones Merlin. Exact genetic copies which can have serious medical problems, and apparently the cloning process has resulted in genetic hybrids rather than perfectly copied dinosaurs. They are on the verge of a disaster playing with forces they can't understand and as such I am almost begging you to help find a way to fix these animals. Rose has worked so hard with these creatures and I can't bear the thought of the disaster that company is headed for." Fauna said clutching her wand tightly.

"I would say let them make their mistakes and let the company fail myself…but something tells me that simply would not do." Merlin admitted. "Sadly I can't really do anything magically as we have no building which magic can be used around…where exactly is this island again?"

"Isla Nublar." Aurora said "About 120 miles off of Costa Rica, but they also do work on Isla Sorna which is about 85 miles further away."

"So well beyond the reach of anything we could try with magic." Merlin said as he stared at the three fairies in the room. "But thankfully for you, I'm not just skilled in magic."

"So you'll try to help?" Aurora asked smiling.

"I will try, but I will need to see what exactly they did to these animals and that means raw genetic data…which I guess you can't access." Merlin pointed out. "Knowing how big this is, and how honest you are my dear I wouldn't think that corporate espionage would be something you would be willing to risk…" The wizard knew his friend well. She was too honest to try and risk being caught and possibly fired resulting in a worst situation than what was happening as is.

"What is this 'genetic' stuff I keep hearing about?" Charming asked. "And what does that have to do with giant reptiles of the past?"

"Short answer my young friend is that it is the building instructions that make up you. And not just you, but all living things." Merlin answered. "To make a very complicated process as understandable as possible, your body is a continuous series of chemical reactions and tissues made of small parts called cells. Each of these little parts of you have to have instructions and these "genes" are the bit of instruction that tell your body how to build itself and what each cell is supposed to do." Merlin explained.

"So how does the wizard of King Arthur know all this?" The younger Charming asked.

"I am a wizard my boy." Merlin replied with a thunderous roar of laughter. "I am a prognosticator and soothsayer. I have seen the inventions and time of the future and even visited some of it…at least in my own world." Merlin explained. "I remember when the steam engine was the stuff of fantasy, built my own model of it use boiled tea for the steam power. I even built a working aircraft model in the middle of the Dark Ages." Merlin smiled as he took another puff on his pipe. The display did not have the intended effect on Ariel and Eric sadly, who reacted in fear rather than wonder.

"Oh sorry. I didn't frighten you, did I?" Merlin said taking note of those that were now sitting down with him.

"Uh sort of, but more my wife than me." Eric answered.

"I've had a few…. bad experiences with magic, but mostly my own fault for trusting a sea witch…"Ariel said as she started to rub her arm and turned her head down in shame of the situation.

"My dear child I assure you I only use my powers for good, and for educational purposes." Merlin smiled.

"Didn't stop you from turning Arthur into a squirrel and into a fish." Merryweather huffed as she crossed her arms in disgust.

"I'll remind you madam that I turned myself into those two very things and did so to help the young lad get a difference in perspective and appreciation of the world he was going to rule as king." Merlin shot back pointing the mouth tip of his pipe at the blue-clothed fairy. "And I also saved the young lad from Mad Madam Mim by use of the same magical abilities thank you very much." Merlin huffed.

"As interesting as remembering fun times are, perhaps we should focus more on the issue on that island rather than arguing among ourselves?" Cinderella said, trying to put a stop to further conflict.

"Right right of course." Merlin said in thought, taking a few puffs on his pipe. "So what we have are genetic hybrids, do we have some sample of their DNA to perhaps look at? Not sure what I can do here but something to go on would be nice."

"Where would we find this NWA stuff?" Philip said scratching his head.

"DNA my good boy, deoxyribonucleic acid. The technical term for the molecule from which genes come." Merlin explained. "Some bit of blood or the like that I might possibly work from?"

"Well sadly I kind of fixed the two dinosaurs Aurora had with her in the forest." Fauna said in thought. "The raptor and that dilophosaur she had with her."

At that Ariel smiled "What about that big one you showed us? Trumpet?"

"How big are we talking?" Merlin asked. Fully aware of the concept of big in dinosaurs is a completely different scale to mammals. "The size of a building or a semi-truck?"

"She's an edmotosaurus, so about the size of an elephant." Aurora answered.

"Oh good good. For a second I was worried I was going to have to work with something like a brachiosaurus." Merlin smiled as he tapped his walking stick on the side of his chair and cause the tables and chairs around the room to move so that each of the currently standing crowd now found themselves sitting down in front of one long table. "Now how about we continue this a bit over some lunch?" Again tapping his cane, Merlin caused menus to fly before the assembled guests.

"Does he always do this?" Ariel asked in amusement.

"Sadly I often find myself doing more mundane acts most of the time. Making sure that everyone's memories and photographs are changed from the real characters Disney works with to thinking that they are just people in suits is a very long process and takes almost all of the magic I have access to, but thankfully it is technically my day off so that is Yensid's job for today."

"I guess that it takes a lot to keep everyone in the dark about what goes on behind the scenes as it were, but why hide these gifts so much?" Eric asked.

"Because my dear boy, humans will abuse what they are entrusted with. Not everyone mind you, but it is just the nature of people to take advantage of what they have. It allows some to escape reality for a brief time. Surely you have seen what happens when people do not appreciate what gifts they are given or abuse the power they have?" Merlin's question was answered in an affirmative. "Well with everyone thinking 'magic' will solve all their problems, someone somewhere is going to try to start some stupid fight to use these gifts in their own selfish way and ruin it for everyone."

"Are humans really that bad?" Ariel asked, remembering the way her father would describe humans to her on an almost daily basis.

"No not all my dear." Flora said. "It's just…. people can choose good and evil and nothing stops people inside our parks from enjoying real magic, but they can't be allowed to remember the details once they leave."

"Which sadly nearly caused an international incident when Nikita Khrushchev tried to visit." Merryweather huffed. "The park couldn't guarantee his safety and who knows what spy-equipment he had on him to take back to the USSR."

"Who was this Khrushchev person?" Ariel asked.

"He was the leader of the USSR, what Russia became during the 1910s. And the US and USSR are in a bit of a cold war with two very different ways the world should work. Walt had hoped to share his park with this national leader to further peaceful relations between the two powers, but we couldn't find a way to let him in and it caused a slight backlash to say the least." Charming explained. "Not exactly something I care to repeat honestly."

"The burden of diplomacy." Eric joked.

"Tell me about it." Charming said, smiling at the humorous banter. "I almost was taken on a diplomatic trip as I was leaving for my honeymoon."

"How did that even happen?" Eric asked in shock.

"My father is rather, how can I put it politely….."

"Stubborn, headstrong, obstinate, and prone to emotional outbursts with regards to family?" Cinderella said as she remembered how her father-in-law cleaved a desk in two with his sword when the archduke couldn't find her after the ball.

"Yep sounds familiar." Philip said shooting back his drink and getting a rather upset look from Aurora. "What? I'm talking about my dad honey. Remember how he started an intoxicated swordfight using a swordfish with your dad at the party for our wedding announcement?"

"It was so hilarious, and I hadn't even met my own parents yet and heard about it from the drunk minstrel." Aurora laughed. "Who was so inebriated that he was unconscious without my aunts needing to cast their sleeping charm on him."

"I can, actually somewhat relate to that one." Ariel chuckled. "Daddy is…well a very good father but always hated humans and has sort of a temper he got from his father, my grandfather Poseiden." Ariel continued. "When he discovered my cave of human artifacts, he destroyed all of them with his Trident out of a hatred for the death of my mother…it wasn't the best time to make life-changing choices after that."

"That sounds horrible dearie." Flora said with her fingers to her lips.

"He got better, after Eric saved him from being a horrible worm in the sea witch's cave by ramming his ship into her guts." Ariel explained.

"Saving the king, or kingdom, or princess usually wins over the father-in-law." Philip joked. "Well it worked for your father didn't it?" He asked his wife.

"I think I was lucky then." Florian/younger Charming said with a smirk. "All I had to do was kiss my love."

"Well I for one must thank all of you for putting a smile on this old man's face." Merlin chuckled. "I haven't been able to sit down with such pleasant company in far too long and quite honestly thank all of you for the most enjoyable afternoon." The robed wizard had the most joyful smirk on his face.

"So you actually are going to help Rose and her dinosaur issues?" Merryweather glared at Merlin asking this, almost to the point of a scowl.

"I promise to try." Merlin answered. "It is the very least I could do, and between all of you and me I actually would very much be interested in this challenge of sorts."

"And how exactly do you plan on coming up with a way to modify genetically engineered dinosaurs without using magic to help fix them?" Fauna asked, in one of her moments of clarity that seemed to pop-in occasionally.

"Madam I engineered an entirely new germ called malignalitaloptereosis by turning into it and infecting Madam Mim." This caused a few eyes at the table to blink at the fact he just made a new infectious disease. "Don't worry, essentially it was no different than a cold and she recovered in about a week. So as far as genetic engineers go, I think that I can safely say I am somewhat of an expert in the field."

Genetic modification seemed to offer the world several benefits. From the promises of pest resistant crops dropping the cost of agriculture to more parasite adaptive animals able to protect themselves from the worms and bugs were thought of as better sources of food in poorer nations around the world. Sadly all these supposedly potential promises were the dreams of those who never acknowledged the horrifying fact of genetic engineering. While INGen was working on some modifications for corn and following the copyrighting of modified food which bordered on greed, the terror of bioweapons was left mostly unknown by the public. The Cold War had led to not only technological revolutions with engineering and communication, but also a rush on germ warfare.

The United States, England, and the crumbling USSR all had developed and researched weaponized versions of smallpox, influenza, bubonic plague, and the most horrifying of all: anthrax. And while the horror of the British government's anthrax were made public, what was unknown was the far greater incident on Vozrozhdeniya Island where the USSR had continued to develop bioweapons after the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) of 1975 was signed banning the development of biological weapons. Among the demons in germ form created included small pox modified such that symptoms wouldn't appear until death was almost certain and the infected had contacted a dozen others that carried the disease, and even worse was a form of anthrax which passed through all biological barriers, was undetectable, and was immune to antibiotics.

While the Soviet Regime was busy burning the former island to the ground while the sea around it dried up, a certain company was secretly hiring certain defectors to promote their own genetic modified products. BioSYN was one of the myriad of biological tech companies following the genetic revolution and they were grabbing as many genetic experts around the world they could. This included the masters of monster making within the petri dish and the morally absent scientist. This latter category could find no better example than one Lewis Dodgson, the head of research at BioSYN. He had started his career in genetics at Hopkins where Dodgson's attempt at human gene therapy before FDA approval had attracted several authorities and was only the beginning of a long list of illegal activities which consisted of Dodgson's career. The latest one, which forced him to go into hiding.

Developing bioweapons is not something that makes millions for legitimate publicly traded companies, but developing vaccines are one of the largest income sources requiring a great deal of understanding of genetics and test subjects to prove the viability to protect against infections. This was where Dodgson's lack of ethics in research led to a disaster as the release of an as-of-yet untested rabies vaccine among the population of a Chilean village. The weakened virus was released as a modified air-borne version and was not sanctioned by or reported to the government of Chile and none of those in the village were informed of the test. The result of this experiment was scores of people sick, and at least 10 dead. Since nothing could be linked directly to Biosyn, they were left off the hook, but the subsequent investigation into the incident had made Dodgson a very wanted man to say the least.

The collective brain-trust of escaped USSR genetic engineers, morally ambiguous free-world geneticists, and Dodgson himself had spent millions in the research and development of the germ and the delivery system and they were so worried about being the first to the US paton office that the very idea of slowing down to double-check their work wasn't even a blurb on their thought process. But Biosyn didn't make money by doing patient work and working out all the kinks, no they survived by being the first to copyright and would rush production as well as outright steal ideas from competitors. In fact, Biosyn's corporate espionage department was almost as large as their own research department and had the benefit of being helped along by Dodgson's own amoral methods. This was the cutting edge of genetic research and if genes were the legal property of their respective owners and manufacturers then all the law cared about was who was the fastest to get the legal documents signed and consequences were for lesser mortals because if you weren't ahead in the game you would never catch up to the competition.

The heads of Biosyn knew that John Hammond and his INGen corporation were up to something, as the aged multi-millionaire had developed some of the most impressive genetically modified animals so far with his genetic expert, and Biosyn was nearly biting at the heals of the old man, metaphorically speaking, but INGen had gone dark recently, very dark. Insider sources and purchasing orders were for serious computer hardware and there was the purchase and leasing of certain islands off the coast of Costa Rica. Those islands offered Hammond the perfect location to conduct experiments with little to no oversight and Biosyn would never get access to anything close to it. They just couldn't pull in the same capital on their own and the previously mentioned disasters in England and the former USSR meant that many world governments kept tight regulations on genetic testing in the free world.

So when Dodgson had called a meeting of the various share-holders and managers with all the urgency of a lottery winner, they took notice.

"Gentlemen I appreciate the willingness to meet me in such short notice." Dodgeson began. The boardroom was dark. All the blinds were closed, the door was sealed, and the curtains were drawn shut. These were more formalities as the room was heavily lined with sound-proofing and was marked off in a hidden part of the offices of Biosyn's headquarters. Electronic dampening, no outside phone-lines, and advanced security access meant almost complete anonymity for those of the company willing to discuss their dealings without the problem of morality issues or FBI investigations possibly getting in the way.

"And why are we here?" One of the shadowed board members asked. "INGen's been quiet for months with no research posted in almost a year. And now you are calling us all together because they are supposedly finally ready to reveal their big research project."

"Not just research, no what they are doing is beyond just research or simply patoning the next form of super-crops. Gentleman I have it on good authority that INGen is planning on something more that slightly bigger plants, much bigger." Dodgson continued. "Gentleman I will not try to go into a lengthy hypothetical monologue like some villain out of a spy-thriller novel. Simply put INGen has gone from modifying slight genetic sequences to capitalize on the open grounds of modified foodstocks to growing entirely genetically sequenced organisms from almost scratch."

"Now hold on a moment. What organisms are we talking here? Making toy animals for someone's amusement like a pink bunny or something?" One of the major stockholders asked. His short-sighted question amused Dodgson somewhat.

"No, that would just be slightly modifying an existing organism. We could do that ourselves if the niche wasn't extremely non-profitable compared to what we are already doing. No, I am saying that INGen somehow has successfully grown entirely manufactured animals and that their island research area is in fact a park, a game park if you will."

"Well spit it out then, what are you saying they have grown in their labs? Some sort of magical fantasy island with unicorns, faries, and dragons?" This got a slight chuckled from some of the people present.

"Not dragons; dinosaurs. Living breathing dinosaurs." This statement made the entire room go quiet for almost two solid minutes.

"You have proof that dinosaurs are alive on this island?" The head of the company asked, all humor completely drained from him as with every other member of the board.

"Gentleman I have not only proof, but I have a man on the inside who can get us some of the genetic material to work with."

"And why don't we just clone dinosaurs from scratch? If INGen finds out we took their dinosaurs with legally protected DNA then we couldn't clone them if we wanted to." One of the corporate lawyers pointed out. "Not to mention that dinosaurs are part of the public consciousness. How do you plan to copyright them in the first place?"

Dodgson smiled. Finally, a seemingly intelligent question. "Thankfully the same way they are going to be copyrighting in at INGen. Most DNA contains junk DNA that we can add that can be copyrighted. Also I feel your view is too short-sighted." Dodgson then started breaking into the tip of his details. "Gentleman it isn't just the dinosaurs at the park which we should be thinking of. What child doesn't want their own pet dinosaurs? Modify a few genes and you can have a personalized house-friendly sized dinosaur to sell to the kids. And since they have total control of the genetics of the animals they grow, they can make the very food that these genetically engineered dinosaurs tailored so that anything more than INGen food will kill the pet. And since it would be a legally recognized monopoly, the checks would write themselves."

"Oh my god…." One of the men at the table said.

"But we have a limited time before the park opens." Dodgson said. "Right now they are far ahead of schedule when it comes to being ready to open and as soon as they do then we will lose any hope of keeping up for the next ten to twenty years. So gentleman we are at a precipice and thankfully I have a rather reliable source inside the company that can get us enough samples to make our own dinosaurs to rival INGen with none of the expense they have dumped into research."

"And this individual can get us samples of actual dinosaur material?" Another one of the hidden Biosyn executives asked.

"I have been working with this individual for some time and yes he is deep enough to have direct access to the genetic samples. And before the question about keeping the dinosaurs we work on as ours, gentleman be thankful there are several sequences that we often call 'junk' material DNA has we can copyright as our own and thus INGen can't touch."

"And there is a urgency of time with this operation?" The head of the company said. His point was made all the more clear when he placed his hands together and put his index fingers to his lips in a indication he was deep in thought.

"At the current projected level of development, it is very likely they will have whatever project they have on the island ready for the first guests within the next two years." Dodgson said to his boss, stressing the need to get the plan into action soon.

"Well that doesn't seem too soon." One of the board said, in ignorance of the situation at hand.

"For germs or vaccines, you could imagine that." Dodgson agreed. "But for a fully grown dinosaur? We need to get started cloning and modifying our own dinosaurs as soon as possible. Now all I need is your approval, and remember we are on record to these events."

The majority raised their hands. Not a single one made a noise as this loophole created the well needed plausible deniability if things came around to bite Biosyn. As no video existed the board members would simply say they voted in the negative and no court could prove otherwise. This created a blank-check for Dodgson to do whatever he wanted or needed to do in order to acquire his samples.

"Thank you gentleman, it has been a pleasure." With the meeting adjourned, Dodgson made his exit and contact one disgruntled Dennis Nedry.

To be continued.


End file.
